Super: Blu Ray Review

Super

Rating: R18
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

Unfairly judged next to Kick Ass on its release, Super is of a similar ilk.

Rainn Wilson (of TV’s The Office) stars as Frank D’Arbo, a man on the edge after his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler) ends up with a drug dealer played by Kevin Bacon.

As he sinks into a depression, his one comfort is a childhood incident which saw him help police catch a criminal; and it’s this that he latches onto, becoming the Crimson Bolt and taking to crime with a Shut Up Crime catchphrase and a wrench to bash the baddies.

He ends up teaming up with Ellen Page’s Libby, a comic book worker and between the two of them, they take on the scourge of the criminal underworld….

Super is a psychotically insane film; it’s a darkly ironic comedy about as black as it can get to be honest in places with Rainn Wilson really channelling the poor guy on the edge; but I’ll be frank, it’s a very thin line between revenge spree in his case rather than a desire to protect the public.

A funny cameo from Nathan Fillion as a spiritual TV avenger gives it extra kudos but it’s a really interesting take on the superhero genre which focuses more on the man than the comic book mythology. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes because of a little ultra violence but fans of this genre in general will absolutely adore it.

Extras: None

Rating:

BAFTA Nominations list

So the awards season is pretty much underway now - and it looks like some clear front runners are emerging for the Oscar nominations....

You'd be a fool to bet against Gorgeous George in the Descendants - and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is leading the field with 11 noms. You can catch my Tinker review a little later today - but for now, here's the full list of the nominations.

BEST FILM

THE ARTIST

THE DESCENDANTS

DRIVE

THE HELP

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY 

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
SENNA
SHAME
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ATTACK THE BLOCK Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
CORIOLANUS Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
INCENDIES
PINA
POTICHE
A SEPARATION

DOCUMENTARY
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Martin Scorsese
PROJECT NIM James Marsh, Simon Chinn
SENNA Asif Kapadia

ANIMATED FILM
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Sarah Smith
RANGO Gore Verbinski

DIRECTOR

THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius

DRIVE Nicolas Winding Refn

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

LEADING ACTOR
BRAD PITT Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist
MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners
JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN The Help
JUDI DENCH My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

ORIGINAL MUSIC

THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO Howard Shore
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Alberto Iglesias
WAR HORSE John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Jeff Cronenweth
HUGO Robert Richardson
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
WAR HORSE Janusz Kaminski

EDITING
THE ARTIST Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Mat Newman
HUGO Thelma Schoonmaker
SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King
TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE ARTIST Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
WAR HORSE Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
THE ARTIST Mark Bridges
HUGO Sandy Powell
JANE EYRE Michael O’Connor
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jill Taylor
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR
THE ARTIST Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
HUGO Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
THE IRON LADY Marese Langan
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jenny Shircore

SOUND

THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener

HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley

WAR HORSE Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Joe Letteri
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
HUGO Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
WAR HORSE Ben Morris, Neil Corbould


SHORT ANIMATION
ABUELAS Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
BOBBY YEAH Robert Morgan
A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM

CHALK Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
MWANSA THE GREAT Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
TWO AND TWO Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)ADAM DEACON
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
CHRIS O’DOWD
EDDIE REDMAYNE
TOM HIDDLESTON

Page One Inside The New York Times DVD Review

Page One Inside The New York Times
Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

A traditional doco looking at the New York Times, its reporters and the way it's still surviving post the recession, this is an interesting and captivating look at a handful of the reporters and their fight for relevance in the new media world.  Iraq, Julian Assange, the Jayson Blair plaigarism scandal all rear their head in this very watchable piece.

For those inside the media, there may be the feeling the doco fudged one of the biggest issues it faces currently-its survival in the world of FB and Tweeting, touching all too briefly on this and worryingly making you feel those in charge aren't quite sure the financial model is remotely in place.

As an outsider looking in, it's a compelling piece -and even boasts an appearance from Rupert Murdoch as his media empire demons play out now.

A little unfocussed, the doco goes from one to the next and simply ends, but it's the staff of the media desk whom the film follows that you end up caring about. A solid piece which will be a crowd pleaser.

Extras: None

Rating:

The Golden Globes 2012 Awards winners are....

Here's a run down of all the winners from the ceremony:

Film - Drama - The Descendants
Actor in a Drama - George Clooney for The Descendants
Actress in a Drama - Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
Musical or Comedy - The Artist
Actor in a Musical or Comedy - Jean Dujardin for The Artist
Actress in a Musical or Comedy - Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn
Supporting actor - Christopher Plummer for Beginners
Supporting actress - Octavia Spencer for The Help
Director - Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Screenplay - Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Original Score - Ludovic Bource for The Artist
Original song - Masterpiece from the film, W.E
Animated Feature Film - The Adventures of Tintin
Foreign Language Film- A Separation, Iran
Television Drama Series - Homeland
Actor in a Drama - Kelsey Grammer for Boss
Actress in a Drama - Claire Danes for Homeland
Comedy Series for Modern Family
Actor in a Comedy - Matt LeBlanc for Episodes
Actress in a Comedy - Laura Dern for Enlightened
TV Movie or Mini-Series - Downton Abbey
Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series - Idris Elba for Luther
Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series - Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce
Supporting Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series - Jessica Lange for American Horror Story
Supporting Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series - Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones
Cecil B. DeMille Award - Morgan Freeman

Brand new Brave images revealed

It's not due until June 2012, but Pixar's released some new shots of their upcoming original animation, Brave.

Pixar's fairytale is about Meirda, a princess who brings trouble and turmoil to her father's kingdom when she defies a sacred custom.

She must set off on a quest in order to make things right and lift the curse.

Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson).

Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave hits cinemas June 2012 - see you there?

The Tree of Life: Blu Ray Review

The Tree of Life
Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

So, the film which divided critics arrives on small screen release;with some decrying a lack of real story and others proclaiming Terrence Malick's a masterpiece on a par with 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Sean Penn is an eldest son, dealing with memories of his relationship with his strict religious father(Brad Pitt)and his easy going mother-but then, you throw in the birth of the universe, dinosaurs, disparate voices calling out to their God asking where were you, and shots of Penn stumbling around in an expensive suit across rocks and it's clear this film is like nothing you'll see.

Confounding, epic in scale and hypnotically haunting, it's more cinema as experience than traditional cinema as the memories unspool and visions flaunt and haunt.

It's bravura filmmaking in the extreme and it's great that cinema provokes such debate at the end-I promise you though, you will see nothing else like it this year and will really need to see it to understand what the debate is all about.

Extras: Exploring the Tree of Life
Rating:

Final Destination 5 - Blu Ray Review

Final Destination 5
Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

Fifth time's the charm for the franchise?

When a group of workers head out on a coach on a business retreat, Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a premonition the vehicle he's on is going to be pulled off a suspension bridge which will collapse. The vision's so powerful, Sam persuades seven of his co-workers to get off and run for their lives.

While the bridge does indeed collapse, the eight of them reckon they've had a lucky escape...however, when one by one, they're picked off and die in mysterious ways, it's clear Death's marked their card and is determined to collect.

Final Destination 5 has some good points and some bad points - while the bridge collapse scene is spectacularly well done, the rest of the deaths seem a little forced and it feels like the writers are starting to feel the strain of inventing new ways to off a largely unknown cast.

That said, some of the scenes, including one where one poor girl gets a fatal laser eye treatment, are likely to have you squirming in your seat and the addition of 3D means a variety of objects spike out at you on the screen. But the gore is mainly more amusing than frightening and Quale does a good job of stretching out the tension so that by the time the final death scene comes round, you've been waiting for it for a while.

A clever addition to the series, as explained by Death's emissary Tony Todd, is that if you're marked for death and you kill someone else, you're given back your life is unexplored for the potential dramatic tension that it has and is wasted as a great new twist which would have had some scripting legs. Equally, the ending is impressive and to discuss that any further would venture into spoilers territory - but it shows there is some thought gone into the latest film.

Sadly though, with a relatively bland cast of at times wooden actors and some frankly average dialogue, any real tension between the group feels forced and unrealistic, leading you to struggle to care if they are offed or not by the Grim Reaper.

Ultimately, if you're after a few comic moments, a bit of suspense and blood splashing onto you courtesy of 3D, then Final Destination 5 will tick your boxes. Everyone else will just hope the franchise is now finally laid to rest.

Extras: Alternate death scenes, special FX split scene

RATING: