Todd Phillips is known for directing the acclaimed Hangover trilogy, and although he adds his comedic bromance flavourings again, he is now taking on much weightier material in crime-drama War Dogs. Loosely based on the book Arms and the Dudes by Guy Lawson, the plot follows two twenty-something friends who become international arms dealers working with the American government. David Packouz (Miles Teller) is struggling to make ends meet, working as a masseuse in Miami. At an old school mate’s funeral, he reunites with former high school best friend Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), who appears to be making a real go of his life having left town a few years earlier. Eager for the taste of success, he agrees to work for him, joining the firm to buy and sell guns and make a fortune.
Category: DVD & Digital
Reviews of the latest UK DVD & Digital releases.
DVD review: Brotherhood
Actor, writer and director Noel Clarke carved the path to his own success when he penned the screenplay for Kidulthood back in 2006. This helped boost his career and the film series continued to Adulthood two years later, and now Brotherhood, the final chapter of the franchise. Settled down but financially struggling, Sam Peel (Clarke) wants nothing more than to provide for girlfriend Kayla (Shanika Warren-Markland) and his two kids, and to forget about the troublesome past that led him to serve a six year prison sentence. When his brother Royston (Daniel Anthony) is shot at a nightclub, it quickly transpires that Sam’s past has returned to haunt him again. Forced to confront old and new faces including Essex gangster Daley (Jason Maza), can he finally put the past behind him for good?
DVD review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Aside from the seven episodes of cinema produced previously, other areas of the Star Wars expanded universe have long been explored through mediums such as novels, comic books and video games. A series of stand-alone spin-offs are now planned which are being referred to as the Anthology, and the first of this kind is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Directed by British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, it is set in between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, shortly before 1977’s Episode IV – A New Hope. The plot follows rebel fighter Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a societal outcast who is approached by The Alliance to assist with their mission to thwart the Galactic Empire’s plan to build a deadly super-weapon. Reluctantly, she agrees, teaming up with fellow rebel Cassian (Diego Luna) and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), but the merciless Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) will stop at nothing to see his assignment through to the bitter end.
DVD review: Bleed for This
Boxing has been very good to cinema over the years, and has become a sub-genre in its own right, providing the canvas to tell triumphant tales that revolve around the squared circle. The latest effort of this ilk, based on the remarkable true story of former world champion Vinny Pazienza, is Bleed for This, written and directed by Ben Younger. Oozing with style, swagger and success, Vinny (Miles Teller) had it all but always wanted more. After teaming up with troubled trainer Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart) and reaching the top, a tragic accident stops him in his tracks and leaves him close to paralysation. Going against doctor’s orders and the advice from everyone around him, Vinny refuses to throw in the towel.
DVD review: David Brent: Life on the Road
It has been just under thirteen years since we said a fond farewell to David Brent in the Christmas Special finale of The Office, when he had been made redundant as regional manager of Slough’s branch of paper merchants Wernham Hogg. Ricky Gervais returns without his co-writer Stephen Merchant to produce, direct, and star in David Brent: Life on the Road, which offers a ‘where are they now?’ revisit to the socially inept and inappropriate character. Now working as a sales-rep for cleaning products firm Lavichem, he takes annual leave to chase his pipedream as front man of the newly reformed rock-band Foregone Conclusion, embarking on a tour to achieve ultimate success and superstardom.
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DVD review: Paterson
After his detour to a galaxy far far away, Adam Driver returns to his indie roots to star in Paterson, a comedy drama written and directed by idiosyncratic filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. The plot follows the humdrum life of Paterson (Driver), a bus driver who lives in the small city of Paterson, New Jersey. In his downtime, he writes poetry inspired by his gentle observations of his surroundings, and is encouraged by his wacky wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) to turn his musings into more than just a hobby. We spend a week in his laid back schedule, from his early rises for work to his nightly walk with his wife’s bulldog Marvin during which he stops off to enjoy a crafty beer in his local jazz bar, soaking it up in his continuous state of content contemplation.
DVD review: Arrival
The sci-fi genre is synonymous with alien invasions, and battles to save the human race from an almighty threat. Tackling this theme from a different angle with Arrival is critically acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve, adapting Story of your Life, a short story written by Ted Chiang. The plot follows linguistics professor Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is approached by US military officer Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) when twelve extraterrestrial spacecrafts land on Earth sparking worldwide panic. Tasked with communicating with the alien life form alongside theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), she must translate their language in order to decipher how and more importantly why they are here.
DVD review: Suicide Squad
In storytelling, it is commonplace to pit good against bad in order to create conflict in the narrative, whether it is cowboys versus indians or cops versus criminals. DC Comics offer a twist in the formula when bad meets evil in Suicide Squad, the latest cinema adaptation written and directed by David Ayer. Following on from the events that unfold in Batman v Superman, government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) compiles a motley crew of supervillains to protect the world from powerful metahuman threat. Among the dirty-dozen-esque collective are hitman Deadshot (Will Smith) and former psychiatrist Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who join forces with elite soldier Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and are deployed to a supposed terrorist attack at a subway station.
DVD review: Nerve
In the swinging sixties, pop artist Andy Warhol said that “in the future, everyone would be world-famous for 15 minutes” and thanks to a social-media obsessed 21st century internet generation, he may well have been onto something. The idea of brittle celebrity status is explored in techno-thriller Nerve, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Based on Jeanne Ryan’s 2012 young adult novel of the same name, the plot follows Vee (Emma Roberts), a timid teenager who lives in the shadow of her popular best friend Sydney (Emily Meade) who urges her to be more outgoing. In an uncharacteristic attempt to be noticed, she signs up as a ‘player’ to Nerve; an online game in which you complete dares for money and get a hoard of ‘watchers’ in the process. This leads her to meet Ian (Dave Franco) and the pair embark on an adventure that begins as an exciting thrill-ride, but soon takes a dangerous dark turn.
DVD review: The Light Between Oceans
In his relatively short but impressive career to date, writer and director Derek Cianfrance has intelligently toyed with narrative conventions, playing with linear structure to get the desired effect from his tales of family, love and loss. He ventures into the period drama genre for his latest feature The Light Between Oceans, adapting M.L. Stedman’s novel of the same name for the screen. Set in Western Australia shortly after World War I, veteran Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) has posttraumatic stress disorder due to the loss he has experienced. As a coping mechanism he takes up a post as a lighthouse keeper to remove himself from civilisation. When he meets his new boss’s daughter Isabel Graysmark (Alicia Vikander), the pair fall in love and get married. They face a dilemma when a dead man and a newborn baby wash up on the shore in an old rowboat. Desperate to start a family together and in mourning after suffering two miscarriages, the couple make a perilous choice that changes their lives forever.
Cinema Perspective 