This artist is the male version of Lily Allen and Adele, according to
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts,
but it appears despite the shiny production, there's little substance behind
all that.
David is a very isolated boy, and something has happened at his school but
he can't quite figure it out. In a well-made short film with a chilling air,
will you work out what the secret is before it's revealed? Chances are, you
won't.
The Secret
is a short film which is out now and touring worldwide festivals.
The Levellers bounce back with a new CD...
The Levellers are a band who've been in the business over 20 years and,
while none of their singles have made the Top 10,
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Elly Roberts
confirms that they're still one of the UK's best festival bands with many an
infectious track that you won't get out of your head.
In a slight change from the norm, we look at a few titles in more detail, as there's not a lot out at the moment.
Doctor Who: The War Machines:
A classic four-part adventure from William Hartnell's time as the first Doctor, The War Machines also features an
early screen appearance for comedian MIke Reid, later to find fame with Runaround and Eastenders. The TARDIS arrives in
London in 1966 and the Doctor and his assistant Dodo visit the Post Office Tower.
There they meet Professor Brett who's invented a revolutionary new computer called the WONTAN (Will Operating Thought Analogue),
which is capable of independent thought. Soon enough though, in the manner of newly sentient computers everywhere, the WONTAN
decides that humans are inferior and that it's time for machines to rule over them. It sets about constructing a fleet of
war machines to take over the world, using its hypnotic powers. Can the Doctor reprogram them before its too late?
DVD Features include:
Commentary with Anneke Wills and Director Michael Ferguson
Now and Then - Featurette
Blue Peter - A compilation of related articles from the popular children's magazine show
One Foot in the Past - Politician and ex-Postmaster General Tony Benn investigates the history of the Post Office Tower
WOTAN Assembly - A featurette explaining how the DVD was created from disparate sources, after the original series fell victim to overseas censorship in the Sixties
Doctor Who: The War Machines is out now on
DVD (£12.98).
Heroes Series 1 & 2 (Blu-ray).
Combining comic book style and geeky in-jokes, Heroes is a stellar series that draws comparisons to fan favourites such as
Lost and The X-Files. But thanks to its well-drawn characters and intricate plot, this drama reels in more than just superhero
fans. Heroes revolves around the premise of seemingly ordinary people developing fantastic powers.
There's Claire (Hayden Panettiere, Ice Princess), a cheerleader who can't appear to be injured or killed. Matt (Greg Grunberg,
Alias) is a cop who can read minds. New Yorker Peter (Milo Ventimiglia, Rocky Balboa) has the power to adopt other heroes'
abilities, while his politician brother (Adrian Pasdar, Judging Amy) has a special power of his own.
Though the show boasts many other characters, its secret weapon is Hiro (Masi Oka), a Japanese office worker who is delighted
to discover he can move through space and time. Contains the first two series of Heroes.
Based on the acclaimed book by Alexander Masters, STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS is the unconventional non-fiction biography
of homeless alcoholic Stuart Shorter. Benedict Cumberbatch (ATONEMENT, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL) plays Masters, a reclusive writer
and illustrator who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Shorter--portrayed with a quiet intensity by Tom Hardy (WAZ, SCENES
OF A SEXUAL NATURE) - during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
As the pair get to know each other, more and more portentous details of Stuart's traumatic childhood and turbulent adolescence
come to light. Fascinating by how these events contributed to Stuart's current situation, Alexander encourages him to tell his
life story--in reverse to make it 'more exciting – like a Tom Clancy murder-mystery'. Gradually with plenty of pathos, dry dark
humour and without shying away from the more malignant aspects of Stuart's personality or the crimes committed, a very complex
and tragic life is unraveled.
Excellent performances from the leads and supporting players, plus an insightful, uncontrived script remaining close to the
award-winning book, make STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS stand out as a modern classic.
Stuart: A Life Backwards is out now on
DVD (£10.98).
According to DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts,
this band have regurgitated the sound and mood of The Doors, while throwing in
other influences including the Rolling Stones, Cream and The Lovin' Spoonful.
Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing at
Manchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won't differ
much from what's on in the rest of the country.
The new films out include: Get Smart, College Road Trip, Shoot on Sight and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
Is Teddy Thompson the new Rufus Wainwritght? Out next week on CD...
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts
certainly seems to think so and he's a massive fan of both of them, with Britain's
Teddy Thompson having a famous father, as well, in Richard Thompson.
Sally Hawkins is a very Happy-Go-Lucky person in Mike Leigh's film on DVD...
Released today:
Poppy is a 30-year-old primary school teacher and very happy with her lot in
life, even though others are pressuring her to find a bloke and start a family.
It's time to learn how to drive and even the headstrong Scott won't put her
off anything too much. Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan head a great cast in this
new Mike Leigh film.
It's a new release, and the Californian girl's seventh album, but as
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Elly Roberts
confirms, she's been trotting out albums for 15 years and while it'll please
her long-term fans, it won't win many casual listeners.
In a slight change from the norm, we look at a few titles in more detail, as there's not a lot out at the moment.
The titles of note for this week are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:
Bonekickers Series 1 (29.99, BBC)
Francesco's Italy - Top To Toe (24.99, BBC)
Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (24.99, BBC)
Gossip Girl Season 1 (29.99, Warner)
Happy-Go-Lucky (19.99, Momentum)
Leatherheads (15.99, Universal)
Meet The Spartans (19.99 DVD, 28.99 Bluray, Fox)
Never Back Down (24.99 Bluray, Momentum)
Persepolis (17.99 DVD, 24.99 Bluray, Optimum)
Stargate Continuum (19.99 DVD, 28.99 Bluray, MGM)
Bonekickers Series 1:
Set in the stunning historic city of Bath, a place steeped in over 3,000 years of history, Bonekickers is an exciting,
action-packed ride through history. Passionate archaeologist Gillian Magwilde (Julie Graham, William and Mary) and her team;
comprised of her ex, the cool-tempered Dr Ben Akomfrah (Adrian Lester, Hustle, The Day After Tomorrow), lecturer and reluctant
adventurer Prof 'Dolly' Parton (Hugh Bonneville, Doctor Zhivago) and university-intern-with-a-secret Viv Davis (Gugu
Mbatha-Raw, Doctor Who), are sent to investigate a series of ancient mysteries using state-of-the-art technology and some
good old-fashioned digging. Whether hunting Crusade relics, uncovering shocking slave murders, exploring secret Roman chambers
or digging up trenches in Normandy, the Bonekickers team discover that unlocking the riddles of the past can have
dangerous repercussions in the present.
Persepolis
presents a deeply personal coming-of-age tale about finding one's place in the world. Based on her bestselling graphic
novel, Marjane Satrapi teamed up with underground comic book artist Vincent Paronnaud to co-direct this animated big screen
adaptation. The result is an electrifying, heartfelt, and original portrait of a spunky girl who surmounts countless obstacles
to grow into a wise young adult.
Marjane (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) is an innocent nine-year-old living in Iran, surrounded by a loving but incredibly
protective mother (Catherine Deneuve) and father (Simon Abkarian). She finds comfort in the carefree spirit of her loving
grandmother (Danielle Darrieux), as well as music by artists as diverse as ABBA and Iron Maiden. When Marjane’s uncle is
killed in the Iran/Iraq war, her parents send her to school in Austria, where she can study in safety.
The only trouble is that her Middle Eastern appearance frightens people, giving her a harsh lesson in racial prejudice.
Somehow, Marjane’s fiery spirit doesn’t succumb to any of the negativity. Eventually, she returns home to Iran to be closer
with her family. But even though she settles into married life, the tyrannical pressures of Iranian society force her to
abandon her country once again, sending her to France on another journey. Satrapi and Paronnaud retain the stark, spare
animated style of the graphic novels that inspired the film. This is a wise decision: the less specific they get in their
visual presentation, the more universal their story becomes.
PERSEPOLIS gives viewers several movies in one. It is equal parts coming-of-age story, history lesson, and an animated adventure
tale.
Gossip Girl Season 1:
Based on the teen novels by Cecily Von Ziegesar, the utterly addictive Gossip Girl follows the lives and loves of a group
of rich New York teens.
When the privileged prep school teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side first learn that Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively,
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is back in town the way they learn all the important news in their lives: from the blog
of the all-knowing albeit ultra-secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows Gossip Girl's identity, but everyone in this exclusive and
complicated vicious circle relies on her website and text messages for the latest scoop. Even Serena's closest friend, Blair Waldorf
(Leighton Meester, Entourage), is surprised to find that Serena has suddenly ended her self-imposed exile to boarding school and
returned to Manhattan.
Keeping track of the shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil in this wealthy and complex world isn't easy, but it's what
Gossip Girl does best.
P>
Gossip Girl Season 1 is out now on
DVD (£17.98).
Stargate Continuum:
This second feature-length film based in the STARGATE SG-1 universe, a follow-up to STARGATE - THE ARK THE TRUTH, finds the
SG-1 crew attending the execution of the nefarious Ba'al, the supposed final System Lord of the galaxies-spanning dominant
alien race Goa'uld.
When Teal'c and Vala suddenly evaporate into thin air, however, the rest of the crew heads back to Earth as quickly as
possible in hopes to get to the bottom of their bizarre disappearances. What they find is worse than they could have ever
imagined. A world in which the Stargate was never discovered awaits them, thus negating much of their own history and personal
pasts. Before they can convince the military that not only did this time-tampering occur, but that it is the handiwork of
Ba'al, hundreds of Go'uld ships line Earth's orbit.
It's up to Maj. Gen. Jack O'Neill (MACGYVER's Richard Dean Anderson) and the rest of crew to set things right before Ba'al
conquers the world in this thrilling time-travel adventure featuring a cadre of beloved characters.
Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing at
Manchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won't differ
much from what's on in the rest of the country.
The new films out include: You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Wild Child and Star Wars: Clone Wars.
New single releases from Beth Rowley and Omar Simon on CD...
In a slight departure from the norm of CD albums,
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts
takes a look at a couple of new and recent singles from Beth Rowley (Sweet Hours)
and Omar Simon (You're All I Need). Click on the above pictures to access
each individual review, and a list of previous single reviews is also available
at the bottom of either one.
Pegg and Schwimmer have a way to escape the 9-5 in Big Nothing on DVD...
During the usual summer lull of new releases, we take a look at a DVD of a great
film relased last year as Simon Pegg and David Schwimmer meet while working at
a godawful call centre and their way to become rich is to rip off the local
Reverend and blackmail him for $100,000, but things don't go to plan when
Pegg's one-night-stand, Alice Eve, gets involved, and that's just the start.
The Batman returns to defeat the Joker at the cinema...
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Dan Owen
went to see this latest releases that clocks in at a shade over 2½ hours, but
does the time fly by like the caped crusader, or does it drag endlessly like
the constant number of mentions by Hollywood about what a fantastic actor
Heath Ledger was?
In a slight change from the norm, we look at a few titles in more detail, as there's not a lot out at the moment.
The titles of note for this week are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:
Empire (19.99, Brightspark)
In Bruges (19.99, Universal)
The Sixth Sense (23.99 Bluray, Warner)
Son of Rambow (19.99 DVD, 24.99 Bluray, Optimum)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 (29.99 DVD, 39.99 Bluray, Warner)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1
stars British actress Lena Headey (300) as Sarah Connor and picks up two years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day,
with Sarah and her 15 year old son John (Thomas Dekker, Heroes) on the run and preparing for a possible future war against the
rise of the machines. Sarah and John find themselves alone in a very dangerous and complicated world.
As fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that more enemies from the future, and the present, including
Skynet, could attack at any moment.
Now focusing all their efforts on stopping the birth of a technological enemy, Sarah and reluctant hero John try and track
down the true source of Skynet’s activation and hopefully change the fate of humanity. Pursued by tough talking FBI agent
James Ellison who believes Sarah and John are deranged, and aided by Cameron (Summer Glau, The 4400), a fearless new female
Terminator who poses as a student at John’s school and whose sole mission is to protect mankind’s future leader.
The trio make a time jump from 1998 to modern day Los Angeles 2007, in an effort to help fulfill John’s destiny and save
the world from an unstoppable war.
Son of Rambow:
Writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, who as Hammer & Tongs have made music videos for such groups as
Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Blur, and REM, follow up their 2005 film, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with the
charming indie SON OF RAMBOW, a love letter to the movies.
Son of Rambow stars Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot, a shy, reserved young boy who is different from the other kids
because his family is part of the Brethren, a religion that shuns the outside world, not allowing him to have friends at
school or to watch television. While in the hallway in school one day because he can't watch an educational film in class,
Will gets into a fight with Lee Carter (Will Poulter), a tough kid who gets into trouble all the time.
Lee forces Will to help him make a homemade version of the Sylvester Stallone film First Blood, but after watching the
original, Will is captivated by the movie and writes his own sequel, casting himself as the son of Rambo (he misspells the
name of the character). Will and Lee use their imagination and lots of grit to get the project off the ground, bonding as only
blood brothers can. But soon the entire school wants to participate in the movie, including ultra-cool French exchange student
Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), jeopardizing the integrity of the production as well as Will and Lee's growing friendship.
Milner and Poulter, both making their feature-film debuts, are engaging as the lead characters. Jennings sets the film in the
1980s, before cell phones, digital cameras, and YouTube changed the way people communicate. Amid a soundtrack that includes
music from such seminal period bands as the Cure and Depeche Mode, the two young boys learn about family and friendship,
jealousy and ego as their carefully controlled worlds threaten to implode.
In Bruges
finds hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) in the titular Flemish city, following the accidental killing of
a young boy. Encountering a strange, darkly comic world of characters, the pair must face both their guilt and their
mortality in a life or death struggle.
Ease into the weekend with Putuyamo's cuban rhythms on CD...
Putuyamo's world music series has come up trumps again, and as
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts
confirms, this is a cool 10-tracker which captures the ambience of the Cuban
cafes and music which helped launch the spirit of Cuba to the rest of the world.
Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing at
Manchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won't differ
much from what's on in the rest of the country.
The new films out include: The Love Guru, Make It Happen and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
There's evil doings afoot at The Cottage on DVD...
It seems a straight-forward idea to kidnap the daughter of a local mob boss
and set up a ransom, but Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith haven't counted
on their captive, Jennifer Ellison, being less than friendly. Read this review from
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Dan Owen
to see how things will pan out.
Tom Cruise fears the end is nigh in The War of the Worlds on DVD...
Shown on TV recently, I hadn't got round to watching this so I dug it out and
I'm glad I watched the DVD rather than on TV as the DTS sound is exceptional
and it's actually a bloody good action/disaster film as all hell breaks loose
when the aliens come to Smalltown USA. Tom Cruise is joined by Dakota Fanning
and Tim Robbins.
And
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Elly Roberts
finds this to be a fantastic release as this CD is a new recording of a live
concert performed in March 2008 for an album that's a classic from yesteryear.
In a slight change from the norm, we look at a few titles in more detail, as there's not a lot out at the moment.
Those we won't be going into depth about are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:
Doctor Who Series 4 Vol 3 (17.99, BBC)
Escape From New York [Blu-ray] (19.99, Optimum)
Total Recall [Blu-ray] (19.99, Optimum)
Vantage Point (19.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Sony)
Cybill Season 4: Cybill Shepherd stars as Cybill Sheridan, a woman who has it all: two spiteful daughters (Dedee Pfeiffer and Alicia Witt), two
clingy ex-husbands (Alan Rosenberg and Tom Wopat), an outrageous best friend (Christine Baranski), an unstable future and a
house on an eroding LA hillside.
But with humour and determination, Cybill braves each new challenge that comes her way, while having the time of her life
discovering that life after forty is anything but downhill. This DVD box set contains all 24 episodes from series four and
features guest appearances by Peter Coyote, Mary Page Keller, Robert Stack, Charles Durning, Seth Green and William Forsythe plus many more...
Stargate Atlantis Season 4:
The STARGATE universe is exhilaratingly expanded and the epic feel of the franchise is perfected in this acclaimed spin-off
of the STARGATE SG-1 series, itself spun-off from the 1994 blockbuster from director Roland Emmerich.
In STARGATE: ATLANTIS, an international crew of scientists and soldiers finds yet another Stargate... one which leads to the
Lost City of Atlantis. This Stargate, though, isn't on Earth but in the far-away Pegasus Galaxy, and the secret city holds a
formidable new enemy--the Wraith. With this fourth series of the hit sci-fi series, things take a turn in a bleak new direction,
with team leader Dr. Weir injured and captured by the evil Asurans as the damaged city of Atlantis drifts through space.
Meanwhile, McKay reprograms the Asuran base code, causing the alien race to wage a war with the Wraith. Finally, hybrid Michael
plays against both the humans and his own former Wraith race as this electric season hurtles toward its thrilling conclusion.
Stargate Atlantis Season 4 is out now on
DVD (£28.98).
The Visit Series 1 is a comedy series starring John Henshaw and Steve Edge about a group of 'banged-up' petty crooks
and the family and friends who visit them each week in their natural environment, a low-security prison.
Set almost entirely in the prison visiting room, the comic tension flows from a three-way dynamic between the prisoners, their
visitors and the undervalued prison officers. Each episode focuses on the life of a different prisoner and, like that other
British prison comedy Porridge, the depressing setting doesn't stop the comedy from being warm, slightly ridiculous and
surprisingly accessible.
Wimbledon The 2008 Mens Final - Nadal vs Federer is a DVD with a title that is self-explanatory.
Wimbledon has a new king. Rafael Nadal dethroned five-time champion Roger Federer by winning the longest-ever Wimbledon men's final.
The consistently heart stopping 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 classic began at 2.35pm and, thanks to a couple of breaks for
rain it ended at 9.15pm with the 22-year-old from Mallorca dropping to the ground with his arms outstretched in celebration.
The match was one of the greatest Grand Slam finals of all time. The Spaniard, who had squandered two match points in a
nerve-shredding fourth set tie-break, added a first All England Club title to his four French Opens, shattering Federer's
dreams of an historic sixth successive Wimbledon trophy.
"It's impossible to explain what I felt when I won. I'm just very happy to win this title. I never thought I could win but to do so is a dream,"
said Nadal who had lost the last two finals to Federer.
Wimbledon The 2008 Mens Final - Nadal vs Federer is out now on
DVD (£11.98).
Solomon Burke is a veteran Blues Soul master, and what better way to ease into
the weekend than with his latest release spanning 10 tracks. However, as
DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts
confirms, while this is a very enjoyable album, it does have a few things lacking.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
