DVD Round-Up

Pick of the Week: Damages – Complete First Season
A ridiculousy entertaining, drunkenly convoluted and mean-spirited corporate thriller in which Glenn Close does her best bitch and Ted Danson turns the sleaze up to eleven. It starts slightly annoying but once you’re in, its quite a ride.

Also out:
St Trinians – I’ve not seen it but I really feel like it can’t possibly be worth its RRP even if The Daily Star gave it away free.
The Lookout – Neat thriller from Out of Sight-writer Scott Frank starring the ever-excellent Joseph Gordon Levitt.
30 Days of Night – Bloody graphic novel adaptation with a non-promising cast (Josh Hartnett and Melissa George) but an eminently promising director in David Slade (Hard Candy).
Silent Light – The new film from Carlos Reygadas, the director of the uncompromising and somewhat uncomfortable Battle in Heaven.
Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry’s beloved novel got an elegant adaptation but feels staid and irrelevant in a post-Deadwood age.
Nirvana on Film – A visual feast of grunge-nihilism and little-boy-lost promos from the most important rock band of the 1990s (take that Shed Seven!)
Ten Commandments: The Musical – I have no idea about this movie although I imagine what the tin says it what it does. More importantly though, it’s a religious musical starring Val Kilmer.

Region 1:
Juno – Very nice special edition of one of the strongest movies of this year (UK releases)
Blast of Silence – Classic idiosyncratic noir from Allen Baron which should really be seen my more folks.
American Dad: Season 3 – The best season yet of the ever-improving McFarlane creation which, whisper it, is sometimes better than Family Guy.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – Flawed Sidney Lumet character study with a brilliant performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman at its core.