Premature DVD Review

     Actors: John Karna, Craig Roberts, Alan Tudyk

Director: Dan Beers

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: November 4, 2014

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        Premature is a predictably typical sex comedy in nearly every way, with the exception of the time loop narrative that makes it resemble Groundhog’s Day or The Edge of Tomorrow for a high school virgin. And even the use of a time loop somehow does little to motivate originality in the screenplay, which is content to re-use the same vulgar gag repeatedly as the only source of entertainment within the film. Characters are little more than props for the repeat sex jokes and predictable outcomes, with female characters sketched out in a two-dimensional manner to fit into the male fantasy.

 

Bound by Flesh DVD Review

     Actors: Lea Thompson, Nancy Allen

Director: Leslie Zemeckis

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: October 28, 2014

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        Bound by Flesh is strongest when delving into the historical context of the freak show rather than the personal lives of conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton. It isn’t that their lives aren’t interesting, but we are given very little content to help us understand or relate to them as people, beginning with the essential choice to remain conjoined despite having no medical reason to stay that way. These sisters chose to remain attached to each other, even long after their fame and careers in the entertainment industry had passed.

 

The Paradise: Season Two Blu-ray Review

    
     Format: Blu-ray, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

Release Date: November 18, 2014

Run Time: 464 minutes

 

        “The Paradise” is a new BBC series which has the feel of a classic literature adaptation, filled with savory melodrama and colorful characters in an immaculate Victorian setting. Season one of this delightful romance could stand alone as a miniseries by the way the story is neatly wrapped up in eight episodes, though the narrative continues with this second season. While the narrative may not be so neatly contained in a second season, the characters are increasingly endearing through a new series of obstacles and conflicts.  

 

Miss Marple Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Joan Hickson

Format: Blu-ray

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

Release Date: October 28, 2014

Run Time: 527 minutes

        Agatha Christie’s iconic character of Miss Marple has been played by many actresses, from Margaret Rutherford to Angela Landsbury with more adaptations inevitably on their way, but none are likely to surpass the success of the original interpretations by Joan Hickson in the 1980s and early 90s. Hickson was 78 when she was cast as Miss Marple in 1984, making her one of the oldest actresses to ever take a lead role in a television series. This collaboration resulted in twelve television film adaptations of Christie’s classic works starring Hickson, before her retirement eight years later.

 

Last Heroes of D-Day DVD Review

   

     Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: November 4, 2014

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

 

        “Last Heroes of D-Day” is a 2-part World War II documentary special about the events leading up to D-Day on June 6^th, 1944. Utilizing interviews from surviving veterans, reenactments and special effects, this special gives the top secret stories of espionage and planning that went into the calculated attack in Northern France by the Allied Forces. It is all very cutting edge and flashy, including hip young host Dan Snow.

 

Walter’s War DVD Review

       
   Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: BBC Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: November 4, 2014

Run Time: 108 minutes

 

 

        Walter Tull was a successful professional football player prior to the First World War, where he was a heroic non-commissioned officer until his death in 1918. The television movie, “Walter’s War” focuses entirely upon Tull’s time in the war, and the 53-minute TV-movie feels incomplete because of these limitations in the screenplay. This wounds the telling of this true story, but it is the cliché racial obstacles within the narrative that deals a fatal blow to the derivative screenplay from actor-turned-writer Kwame Kwei-Armah.