Cary Grant is very fondly remembered as a Hollywood icon but documentary filmmaker Mark Kidel scrapes away the Hollywood glitz and gloss to explore the man behind the movie star in Becoming Cary Grant. Adapted from an unpublished autobiography, we hear Grant’s fascinating story in his own words, with actor Jonathan Pryce reading excerpts to provide an enjoyable voice-over.
Category: DVD & Digital
Reviews of the latest UK DVD & Digital releases.
DVD review: Bad Day for the Cut
Chris Baugh writes and directs his feature debut Bad Day for the Cut, a revenge thriller set in Northern Ireland. The plot follows middle-aged farmer Donal (Nigel O’Neill) who lives a quiet, unadventurous life with his mother Florence (Stella McCusker), spending his days working and his evenings supping real ale down the pub. One night, their home is broken into and his mother is brutally murdered. Donal spots one of the assailants getting away whom he refers to as ‘a fancy looking sorta boy’ and after a couple of thugs return a few days later to kill him too, he is forced to take matters into her own hands to avenge her death.
Film review: Where is Kyra?
Following a four-year hiatus, Michelle Pfeiffer makes her acting return taking the titular role in Andrew Dosunmu’s slow-burning drama Where is Kyra? Poverty-stricken Kyra lives in Brooklyn with her elderly ailing mother Ruth (Suzanne Shepherd) and struggles to make ends meet as she hunts for a job. After suffering a loss, she drowns her sorrows in the local drinking den where she meets lowly caretaker Doug (Kiefer Sutherland). The pair make a connection, bonding over their hardship, but Kyra’s desperate need for cash soon leads her to take a treacherous risk.
DVD review: Baywatch
Just in time for summer, the hit nineties television show Baywatch has been given the cinematic treatment. Directed by Seth Gordon, the modern-day reimagining stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Lieutenant Mitch Buchannon, chief lifeguard at Emerald Bay, Florida. Along with his loyal team that includes Stephanie (Ilfenesh Hadera) and C.J. (Kelly Rohrbach), they run try-outs to find three new members and when disgraced Olympic swimmer Matt Brody (Zac Efron) signs up, cocky and full of confidence, he thinks he’s in for an easy ride. Before long, some dangerous criminal activity is discovered in the area, and the gang must come up with a plan to protect the bay.
DVD review: Wonder Woman
Since a brief yet scene-stealing cameo in last year’s disappointing DC effort, the anticipation around the Wonder Woman stand-alone outing has been rife. This is the first female-led comic-book movie in over a decade, and filmmaker Patty Jenkins is in the hot seat, directing her first feature since 2003. Focussing on the backstory of Amazonian princess Diana (Gal Gadot), we see her upbringing on the island of Themyscira where her aunt General Antiope (Robin Wright) trains her for combat. When British army spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands on the island’s idyllic shores, Diana comes to his rescue and learns of the WWI atrocities unfolding across Europe. Feeling duty-bound to protect innocents in danger, she persuades Steve to take her to the frontline, convinced that she can bring down Ares, the god of war, to protect mankind.
Film review: The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry’s novel The Secret Scripture was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize back in 2008, and now writer and director Jim Sheridan has adapted the Irish story from page to screen. The plot centres around mental hospital patient Roseanne McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave) who has spent fifty years in an institute after she was reported to have brutally murdered her new-born baby. With plans set in motion to demolish the home and for a flat redevelopment, Dr. William Grene (Eric Bana) is sent to assess her state of mind. A dark past is soon revealed through both the scribbles and sketches in her beloved Bible which give the film its name, and in flashback sequences were Rooney Mara takes the leading role as the young protagonist.
DVD review: Alien: Covenant
The acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott resurrected his iconic sci-fi franchise five years ago and the project was hugely divisive amongst audiences. Now he is back again to direct the sequel to his prequel with Alien: Covenant, which takes place a decade after the events of Prometheus. Set in 2104, the story follows the crew of a colony spaceship as they embark on a mission to find a new home for humankind. After they suffer a tragic setback on their quest, first mate Christopher Oram (Billy Crudup) and second-in-command Daniels (Katherine Waterston) must work together to reach their destination with the help of resident synthetic android Walter (Michael Fassbender). Their plan changes when they intercept a strange radio transmission from a nearby planet, leading the expedition on a deadly detour into the unknown.
DVD review: Unlocked
Tackling subject matter that feels frighteningly topical in the current climate, veteran filmmaker Michael Apted directs terrorism thriller Unlocked. The story centres around undercover CIA interrogator Alice Racine (Noomi Rapace) who is guilt-ridden from failing to prevent an attack in Paris five years earlier. She is lured back into her dangerous line of work as London is put at risk by a deadly biological threat. She turns to her mentor Eric Lasch (Michael Douglas) and MI5 agent Emily Knowles (Toni Collette) for help and finds an unlikely ally in thuggish ex-marine Jack Alcott (Orlando Bloom) as she becomes embroiled in a plot to bring down the perpetrators behind the peril.
DVD review: The Sense of an Ending
Why learn to live with mistakes and regret when you can simply grow old and forget about them? In The Sense of an Ending, BAFTA nominated Indian filmmaker Ritesh Batra begs this question in what is his first English language feature. Adapted from Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, the plot centres around retired divorcee Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent), a grumpy old man who receives some post that leads him to reflect on his youth. The letter is from the recently departed mother of Veronica Ford (Freya Mavor), a girl that he dated years earlier. Strangely he is left a small sum of money and a diary in her will, and while he is interested to find out more, a trip down memory lane reveals forgotten truths from his past.
DVD review: Raw
French writer and director Julia Ducournau wowed audiences at Cannes Film Festival last year with her first feature film Raw, a coming-of-age story spliced with an exploration of cannibalism. The plot centres around young vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) who enrols at veterinary college, where she befriends party-boy roommate Adrien (Rabah Naït Oufella) and reunites with her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) who already studies there. After being thrust into the anarchic student lifestyle, she is forced to eat rabbit kidneys as part of a brutal initiation process and reluctantly buckles to peer pressure. This, however, causes a horrible allergic reaction and triggers a craving for meat and an unquenchable thirst for blood.
Cinema Perspective 