The psychological thriller Trance saw the return of director Danny Boyle and DVD and Blu-ray release is our Recommendation of the Week. The DVD and Blu-ray features two documentaries and the movie such satisfy Boyle and James McAvoy fans.
First Release
- Trance (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Welcome to the Punch (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Pieta (DVD and Blu-ray)
- New World (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Ginger & Rosa (DVD)
Re-Release
- Babette’s Feast (1987) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Ice Storm (1997) (Blu-ray)
- Summer and Smoke (1961) (Blu-ray)
Trance (DVD and Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Joe Aharne, John Hodge
Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel
Trance is a psychological thriller that sees director Danny Boyle reunite with John Hodge, the writer of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. Trance is both a heist movie and a look into the mindscape as we follow Simon (James McAvoy), an art auctioneer who is the inside man for an art heist for a gangster called Franck (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan). But when Simon takes the painting he develops amnesia and after some unsuccessful torture, Franck takes the radical step to take Simon to a hypnotherapist, Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), forcing many twists and turns on the way.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 68% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 61/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 9.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Closed Caption; ; The Power of Suggestion - Making Trance: Hypnotherapy, the look, the final rewrite
Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $17.99 (Blu-ray)
British and South Korean cinema is the name of the game this week with the new releases coming from those nations. Whilst the Criterion Collection offer us the re-releases of Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and the award winning Danish movie Babette’s Feast.
Welcome to the Punch (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Eran Creevy
Starring: James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Harris, David Morrissey, Peter Mullan
The other James McAvoy movie of the week is the British action thriller, Welcome to the Punch. Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) is a London Metropolitan Police Detective, who has been shot in the knee by a notorious gangster Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) when he was escaping from a bank heist. After a year of hiding in Iceland Sternwood returns to London to find out who murdered his son and Max wants to bring him down: but soon the pair end up working together when they find out about a wider conspiracy.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 50% (average)
Metacritic Rating: 49/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 4.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Making of, Interviews, Trailers
Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Pieta (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Kim Ki-duk
Starring: Lee Jung-jin, Jo Min-su
Pieta is a South Korean drama about Lee Kang-do (Lee Jung-jin), a brutal loan shark who has to reconsider his violent lifestyle after he meets a woman who claims to be his long-lost mother.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 81% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 72/100 (good)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Audio Commentary with Director Kim Ki-duk, Cho Min-soo and Lee Jung-jin; God, Have Mercy On Us - Interviews with Kim Ki-duk, Cho Min-soo and Lee Jung-jin; Winning the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice Film Festival; Behind the Scenes Featurettes; Filmography of Kim Ki-duk; Trailers; 16-Page Booklet; High quality 720p HD Digital Download of the Film
Amazon Price: $19.58 (DVD), $18.93 (Blu-ray)
New World (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Park Hoon-jung
Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-sik, Hwang Jung-min
The other movie to come from South Korea is the crime drama New World. In the South Korean underworld the Goldmoon crime organization is growing and an undercover cop, Lee Ja-sung (Lee Jung-jae) has to choice between his profession to bring down the organization and his loyalty to underboss Jeong Cheong (Hwang Jung-min).
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 71% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 58/100 (average)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Making of; Photo Gallery; Trailer
Amazon Price: $14.93 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Ginger & Rosa (DVD)
Written and directed by Sally Potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Alessandro Nivola, Annette Bening
Ginger & Rosa is a coming-of-age story set in the 1960s about two London teenage girls, Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert, Beautiful Creatures) who have to face the sexual revolution, the Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 69/100 (good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $14.83 (DVD)
Babette’s Feast (1987) (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Gabriel Axel
Written by Gabriel Axel (screenplay), Karen Blixen (story)
Starring: Stephane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, Bodil Kjer
Babette’s Feast is a Danish movie that won the Un Certain Regard at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Babette’s Feast tells the story about two sisters in a small Danish village in 19th Century, exploring their relationship with their father and honor him with a feast on his 100th birthday.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: New 2K digital film restoration, with 2.0 surround; New interview with actor Stephane Audran; Karen Blixen: Storyteller, a 1995 documentary about the author; New visual essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda; New interview with sociologist Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson; Trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Mark Le Fanu
Amazon Price: $20.97 (DVD), $27.57 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 3.5 stars, Extras 4.5 stars, Replay 4.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
The Ice Storm (1997) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Ang Lee
Written by James Schamus (screenplay), Rick Moody (novel)
Starring: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood
Based on a critically acclaimed novel by Rick Moody The Ice Storm is a drama directed by Ang Lee and has an ensemble cast as the movie focuses on a middle class Connecticut family who face their problems with drink and sex.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 83% (very good)
Metacritic Rating: 72/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by Ang Lee; Audio commentary featuring Lee and producer-screenwriter James Schamus; Documentary featuring interviews with actors; Interview with novelist Rick Moody; Deleted scenes; Footage from a 2007 event honoring Lee and Schamus; Visual essays featuring interviews with the film's cinematographer; Theatrical trailer; PLUS: An essay by critic Bill Krohn
Amazon Price: $27.97 (Blu-ray)
Summer and Smoke (1961) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Peter Glenville
Written by James Poe, Meade Roberts (screenplay), Tennessee Williams (play)
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page
Based on a play by Tennessee Williams Summer and Smoke follows the love triangle between Alma Winemiller (Geraldine Page) who is in love with a young medical student, John Buchanan Jr. (Laurence Harvey). But John is falls for Rosa (Rita Moreno), a woman who prefers the wilder side of life.
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $19.99 (Blu-ray)
