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In The Night Garden: All Together! (out 15 March 10, Cert. U) Narrated by Derek Jacobi, cert. U MonkeyScore: 70% Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and the Tombliboos have adventures aboard the Pinky Ponk, play hide-and-seek, discover a giant bouncing ball and dance and play happy music to their hearts content. Pre-schoolers have been enjoying the Night Garden since 2007. This release sees five new episodes coming to DVD for the first time. With over two hours worth of antics from the garden regular residents there's enough to keep fiddly toddlers amused on a long car journey, or whenever they can't get their fix on CBeebies. Narrated by the talented Derek Jacobi, In The Night Garden is beautifully made and has already bagged two BAFTAs. The charming story lines from this new collection will delight anyone under the age of 5.
A Serious Man (out 15 March 10, cert. 15) MonkeyScore: 85% 1967, the Midwest. Larry Gopnik's life goes from quietly dull to rather eventful - the wife's leaving, his brother is parked on the sofa, his son is misbehaving in Hebrew school and his daughter's skimming his wallet to finance a nose job. And that's only home. Work's just as interesting with a failing student trying both bribe and legal action against him and anonymous letters that could jeopardise his chance for tenure. Perhaps by seeking the advice of three trusted rabbis, Larry can find a way to deal with his problems and become a genuine "mensch' - a serious man. Relying on character actors rather than their usual cast pays of in spades in this original comedy by the Coen brothers. Michael Stuhlbarg's performance, playing Gopnik, is both understated and funny. Support comes from vastly talented actors mostly known for their TV work like Richard Kind (of Spin City fame), Adam Arkin and George Wyner who between them have been in just about every significant TV show since the 70s. A Serious Man is almost as nonsensical as some of the parables used by the rabbis featured: like the religious allegories referred to, it's best appreciated as a whole rather than trying to pick out the logic and over-analyse the details. It is a little gem of dark humour, both poking fun at and fondly supporting the main protagonists for seeking solace in the Jewish faith. It's clever, with hidden depth, and yet manages to remain entertaining and fun. A treasure of black comedy, subtle yet laugh-out-loud.
Cold Souls (out 15 March 10, cert. 15)
MonkeyScore: 67% Paul Giamatti, actor, is paralysed by anxiety over his role in Chekov's
"Uncle Vanya." Desperate, he comes across a high-tech company that promises to reduce
suffering by extracting souls. He goes ahead with the firm intention to reinstate his soul once he survives the performance. As luck would have it things get complicated: enters a soul trafficker who borrows Giamatti's soul from storage on behalf of a talentless
Russian soap-opera actress. Giamatti has no choice but go after his soul, all the way to St Petersburg. Sophie Barthes manages to bring humanity and humour to Cold Souls, with the immense talent of Sideways' Paul Giamatti. In other hands Cold Souls could have gone either in the direction of an over-the-top caricature or towards an over-intellectualised, dry philosophical reflection on the soul and its purpose. While this is neither Cold Souls falls into that hard to define in-between, not quite a laugh-out-loud comedy (despite a few good chuckles) nor a drama. Still, though it may not be the easiest film to get into (the premise of a Checkov play may rightly put the fear of God into quite a few souls...) Giamatti's performance makes it eminently watch-able and enjoyable. |
The White Ribbon (out 15 March 10, Cert. 15) Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesh, Burkhart Klaussner, Ernst Jacobi, Steffi Kühnert, dir. Michel Haneke, 2009, Cert. 15, in German with English subtitles MonkeyScore: 68% In northern Germany, just before World War I, the children and teenagers of a Prostestant village are at the heart of strange incidents that seem to take the character of a punishment ritual. Viewed from the eyes of the village schoolteacher, the events in Haneke's film seem rather benign at first. Bullying, gossip and neighbours turning against each other ruining a perfectly nice little community are central themes to the film. The over-arching unspoken conclusion is that these behaviours made the German people ripe for the taking by Hitler. This is rather over-intellectualising film. One may want to use their brain cells every now and then, between run-off-the-mill Hollywood productions, but this should not exempt film-makers from telling stories with a beginning, a middle and an end. Yes, the film is utterly beautiful, shot in sublime black&white and lit to perfection. And yes, it will make you think about the war and how people can be mean / jealous / bigoted etc. But will it release emotions by simply watching the story unfold? The main problem with this is that the White Ribbon doesn't really end - it fizzles out. A beautiful piece of film, but hardly Haneke's most compelling.
Eastbound & Down (out 15 March 10, Cert. 15) Danny McBride, Katy Mixon, Andrew Daly, Jennifer Irwin, Will Ferrell, 2009, Series 1, Cert. 15 Pitcher Kenny Powers (McBride) was poised for greatness until his fading fastball and insufferable personality got the better of his game. He heads home to Shelby County, North Carolina, to take up a job as a substitute gym teacher. In spite of the fact that his fame has all but dried up, Powers starts planning his comeback in-between drinking binges. McBride excels in the role of washed out Powers but what really stands Easbound & Out aside is the quality of the writing. The script manages to fit more one-liners in its half-hour format than is possible for the brain to recollect. Each is more offensive than the previous one, so this is most definitely not a show that will appeal to sensitive souls. For the rest of us, however, Eastbound is a treat. Irreverent, without the slightest shred of political correctness, this is one series to treasure on disc as you are bound to have missed a lot on the telly. Eastbound & Out is so funny is borderline painful to watch. |
Zombieland (out 15 March 10, Cert. 15) Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray, dir. Ruben Fleischner, 2009,
cert. 15 MonkeyScore: 72% A virus has turned just about everyone on Earth into flesh-eating zombies. 4 survivors embark on a road trip across the USA, having to figure out whether being stuck with each other is worse than giving in to the zombies. There's Columbus (Eisenberg), a geeky wuss who's turned his fears into a survival manual, and Tallahassee (Harrelson) whose main drive is to kick zombie ass and find the last Twinkie on earth. They soon meet up with con-artist sisters Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin), who have their own technique to survive the mayhem and reach the West Coast alive. Zombieland claims to be the best zom-com since Shaun Of The Dead - and it lives up to the challenge. While the premise is slight the action is delivered at a pace that mirrors the zombie madness: it's fast, quite a bit furious and as gory as it is hilarious. Harrelson's Tallahassee is straight out of a comic book, and Eisenberg just shines through what is in effect his first lead role. Don't expect to be scared - it's not that kind of zombie movie - but do prepare yourself for some rather interesting ways to dispose of the undead and look out for a brilliant cameo by Bill Murray. Zesty and very funny - can't wait to see what happens in the sequel!
Crimson Wing (out on 15 March, Cert. PG) Dir. Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward, 2009, cert. PG Lake Natron, northern Tanzania. Crimson Wing takes a look at the lives and deaths of the multitude of flamingos who inhabit the lake. review coming soon
Chuggington: Chuggers On Safari (out 15 March 10, Cert. U) MonkeyScore: 70% Chuggington is a town were all travel takes place by rail and where the heroes of the stories are engines. Sounds familiar? The resemblance with a certain really useful crew stops at the premise: Chuggington is a bang up to date take on the theme, with a modern look and feel and not a single fat controller in sight. Pre-schoolers can identify with the 3 young trainees as they practice being proper chuggers, while older kids will enjoy the more experienced crew. Chuggington has pace, vivid storylines and a great bunch of characters - while it won't give you a rush of childhood nostalgia your little ones are likely to enjoy this immensely. A great choice to keep the kids entertained on a rainy afternoon! |
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