Rampart: DVD Review

Rampart: DVD Review

Rating: R16
Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Woody Harrelson reteams with his Messenger director for this searing piece of police drama, based on a true story.

Harrelson is morally bankrupt LA Cop Dave Brown, one of the last renegade law enforcers, who believes he's a law unto himself. However, when he's captured on camera attacking a LA man, the net around him begins to tighten. Coupled with a scandal which has engulfed his department, it looks like time is up for Dave. Thing is though, he's not ready to go yet.

Rampart is a fine piece of drama from novelist James Ellroy and Oren Moverman - Harrelson gives a compelling performance as the cop, who's convinced he's completely in the right, despite being as morally lacking as a very, very bad man.

But the one thing which derails Rampart slightly is its ending, which simply comes without warning and leaves you feeling a little cheated after all you've been through.

That said, Rampart is a solidly well acted drama which once again shows Woody shouldn't be written off and is doing some of the most interesting work of his career currently.

Extras: Featurette, trailer

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Jeff, Who Lives At Home: Blu Ray Review

Jeff, Who Lives At Home: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

The latest addition to the mumblecore movement is a sweet, under-appreciated nugget.

A dialled down Jason Segel plays Jeff, who spends his time living in the basement of his home with his mum (Susan Sarandon). One day, his mum insists the slacker leave the house to buy some glue to fix a cupboard; however, before Jeff leaves, he receives a call for a Kevin. Believing that everything is fated, Jeff sets out to find Kevin after a series of consequences - and his actions have ramifications for his mother, as well as his brother Pat (Ed Helms) and his troubled marriage.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is another triumph by the Duplass brothers - buffeted by a wonderful performance from Segel for such a hokey concept (man follows series of coincidences to epiphany). But it's so well put together with acting that's so believable, engaging and watchable that you can't help but be swept along by it.

Segel wonderfully underplays and it's to the film's benefit that he does as the tale of a broken family bond plays out.

Do yourself a favour and buy Jeff, Who Lives at Home - you won't be disappointed by its gentle charm.

Rating:

A Fantastic Fear of Everything: Blu Ray Review

A Fantastic Fear of Everything: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Entertainment.

Simon Pegg stars in this quirkily offbeat film about a children's author, who's moved more into crime writing.

Pegg is Jack, whose life has become a paranoid cell, trapped inside his own home as he's been crippled by the research into serial killers he's been carrying out. Soon, everything around him represents a potential threat.

But, when his agent calls to tell him he has a Hollywood mogul interested in his latest book, Jack's got to face his fears, leave the flat and try to break into the successful world of crime novels.

First though, he needs to find some clean underwear and socks...

Pegg is perfect as the quirky reclusive writer - and some of his performance recalls his heyday as the flatmate in Spaced. In fact, there's a very similar vibe to this with jumpy cut editing and close ups as well as a drawn out soundtrack here and there.

But there's not quite enough story to see it through unfortunately, which is a real shame because the original vision and brilliant visuals really make a difference here and represent something totally new to the screen.

Ultimately, A Fantastic Fear of Everything just gets by on Pegg's stand out performance with every nervous tick nuanced and subtle rather than OTT and played simply for laughs. It's just a shame that as the paranoia escalates, the story can't match its lead actor.

Extras: Commentary

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Seeking Justice: Blu Ray Review

Seeking Justice: Blu Ray Review

Rating : M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment

Following recent OTT screen antics, Nicolas Cage returns to a more demure performance in this thriller.

Cage plays Will, an English teacher, whose wife (January Jones) is attacked and raped one night while he's playing chess. At the hospital, Will meets Simon (Guy Pearce) , who tells him that an organisation which he works for can take care of the man who did this to his wife, in return for a favour down the line.

Will reluctantly agrees and all is well until 6 months later, when Will is contacted and asked to return his part of the bargain.

Playing out as an action version of Dr Faustus, Seeking Justice is a perfectly serviceable thriller with nothing out of the ordinary to redeem it from the other straight to video fare. Cage is relatively on form in Roger Donaldson's hands and as a conspiracy deepens, the film plays its hand fairly straight. The action sequences are tautly directed and again, nothing out of the ordinary.

All in all, Seeking Justice is a film you will put on and leave playing in the background; it has a good cast including the likes of January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter and Guy Pearce - it's just lacking a little of the action and material to help it stand out.

Extras: None

Rating:

Brand new Hobbit images

Brand new Hobbit images

Another week closer to the Wellington world premiere of The Hobbit and another week of new images being launched onto the internet.

This time, thanks to TheOnering.net, we've got more looks at Radagast The Brown, new looks at the Wargs, and Misty Mountain Goblins.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has its world premiere on Wednesday November 28th.

Feast your eyes below:

Robot and Frank: Movie Review

Robot and Frank: Movie Review

Cast: Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Jeremy Sisto, Voice of Peter Sarsgaard
Director: Jake Schreier

Sometime in the very near future, robots live among us as carers for the elderly.

Ageing ex-convict and thief, Frank (Frank Langella) lives alone away from his family and is starting to show severe signs of mental deterioration and dementia.

When his son Hunter (Marsden) visits, he's so shocked by how quickly his father is sliding into dementia, that he gives him a robot to help him with the daily life.

Initially reticent to bond with the robot butler or allow it to help at all, Frank begins to warm to it, when it helps him shoplift. That plants a seed within Frank's mind, and soon, he's back to planning heists with his electronic pal, who believes that the work Frank's doing is aiding his memory.

Frank turns his attention to stealing a book from the local library, Don Quixote run by Susan Sarandon's head librarian, Jennifer. Mainly because the library's being closed down, the books phased out and stored electronically, something which Frank doesn't agree with.

However, Frank's soon looking to carry off an even bigger heist with his robot chum....

Robot and Frank is a saccharine movie with a simple story and thankfully, a masterclass of acting as its central performance.

Frank Langella is mightily impressive as the ex-con whose life is falling apart around him but who refuses to acknowledge that it's happening. He gives a great turn in this character piece, as a man who's fighting against the tides of time and winds of change - as well as with the loss of his memory and life as he knows it. Combined with a twinkle in his eye when planning the heists with the Peter Sarsgaard voiced caretaker robot, Langella is compelling, humbling and touching from beginning to end - in fact, you can't help but empathise with him right away.

Sarsgaard channels HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of vocal performance from the white lego  legged style robot - a sort of space-helmeted white-washed Twiki from Buck Rogers; a sympathetic Sarandon works well in her all too brief scenes (the reasons for which become clear at the end) and Marsden and a principled and lecturey Tyler do wonders with their estranged siblings, who share different views on the place of robots within society.

There's also a humorous script at play too - with some laughs coming from the most unexpected of places; a pair of robots, when forced to interact, intone that they "are functioning normally" when asked how they are; Sarandon's library robot is named Mr Darcy; the script is deft at throwing in great one liners as well as oddities to show how Frank's starting to disconnect from the present and becoming confused with the new technology.

At the end of the day, Robot and Frank is a charmingly slight heart-warming affair, a buddy film which is original and novel despite its cutesy rose tinted view and occasional narrative flimsiness here and there. On a thematic par with Martin Landau's turn in Lovely, Still from 2008, Robot and Frank has a masterclass of acting from an impeccable Langella which keeps you engaged from beginning to end as well as offering a tantalising "what if" look into a potential future.

Rating:

Episodes S2: DVD Review

Episodes S2: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by BBC and Roadshow Home Entertainment

Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig return in Season 2 of the British/ American sitcom, Episodes.

Picking up where season 1 ended, Sean and Beverly's long standing marriage is in tatters after Beverly slept with Matt LeBlanc during the planning of their American sitcom, Pucks.

When the premiere of their show does well, it looks like the rocky patch could prove a difficult working environment for Sean and Beverly but by the second episode, the ratings are sliding and networks are hovering around the show to make changes.

Season 2 of Episodes is not as smart as the first which really delved into the politics of the industry and making a show as well as poking fun at Matt LeBlanc's public persona. While there was more of a sly and smart sense to the writing in season one, a lot of that seems to have been jettisoned for broader comedy and as a result, while Episodes S2 is good, it's nowhere near as good as the first season was.

The main trio are still watchable - though it's Greig who gives more of a deeper performance than the other two leads. But the satire runs dry towards the end and to be honest, you'd have to hope that a third season brings a little more of the smart writing that was so prevalent in the first.

Rating: