Release

DVD weekly: Big-haired ballbreakers and Volcano gods

Matt

30th April 2012

It’s DVD weekly time, providing you with a rundown of all the best new home entertainment releases of the week. All two of them.

Released: Monday 30th April 2012

The Iron Lady (2011) DVD & Blu-ray
Buy the DVD on Amazon for £11.97

The Iron Lady

Iconic political power figure who’ll go down in history as one of the greatest leaders Britain has ever seen, or milk-stealing megabitch? It’s fair to say that any strong feelings you have about Maggie Thatcher may colour your enjoyment of – or disdain at – this unusual biopic of the big-haired ballbreaker. Luckily for me, I am completely ignorant of Thatcher’s reign, and indeed of politics in general. Even now, after seeing this film.

Because, for a movie that claims to detail the rise of the UK’s first female prime minister, a lot more focus is given to her present day dementia than any of the decisions that cemented her status and reputation while acting as the country’s leader. So she upset some miners and got involved in a scuffle over the Falklands...but she’s mad as a lorry now and that’s the important thing, right? As script decisions go, it’s a strange angle to take.

And yet the tried and tested flashback formula works well here, as well as the relatively new plot device of “having conversations with hallucinations of your dead husband”. It all seems a little surreal (and perhaps insensitive seeing as it’s a massive assumption about the dementia suffered by someone who is still alive), but the back and forth between timelines makes for engrossing viewing and some pretty nifty parallels between past and present. It’s just a shame that director Phyllida Lloyd (who previously oversaw Streep in Mamma Mia) lets the flight of fancy storytelling run away from her, frequently resorting to distracting techniques of quick edits and imaginative framing that, while suitable for representing an increasingly unstable mind, feels out of place in what should just be a straight-up biopic.

But then this film has one obvious trump card that wins out above all else: Meryl Streep. Her uncanny performance as Maggie is nothing short of astonishing. It’s a transformation that never seems anything less than total, even in her present day incarnation as a distracted (and considerably shrunken) old lady. It is the most Oscar-worthy of Oscar-winning performances and brilliantly supported by an incredible make-up team (which won the film its other Academy Award). The rubber mask adopters of J. Edgar should take note – this is how to create a subtle and realistic aging effect. Even Shiznit sweetheart Olivia Colman is unrecognisable as daughter Carol Thatcher.

Overall, it makes for an interesting watch; one powerful performance and a supporting cabinet of other great actors help to raise the film above its otherwise questionable narrative. And I’m still none the wiser about Thatcher’s actual politics. But at least I now know that at no point does the Iron Lady make a robotic suit of armour and fight crime. Shame.

Read the original review
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
DVD & Blu-ray
Buy the DVD on Amazon for £9.99

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Fourth films in a franchise are never usually a sure sign of quality. Look at Nightmare On Elm Street 4 if you don’t believe me. Or...er...Batman And Robin. But with each Mission: Impossible instalment having a distinctly different tone (spy drama, action blockbuster, conspiracy thriller - in that order), this film manages to seem fresh and exciting; playing off the tropes made popular in its predecessors (yanking masks off, unlikely spy tech, etc) but with inventive and exhilarating set-pieces that set it apart as an...I don’t want to say ‘awesome high-adrenaline rollercoaster ride’, but you get the idea.

With Incredibles director Brad Bird making his first foray into live-action filmmaking, there’s a lot of laughs alongside the chases and gunplay, and even the film’s fool, Simon Pegg, provides the right balance of comedy with a role that could have easily just been that of ‘bumbling geek’. But the action is played out well too, with impressive stuntwork married to a realism that you just wouldn’t find in John Woo’s second film. For every brave jump off a building, there’s an awkward crash landing that you don’t normally see in highly polished blockbusters and, as a result, you feel every bang and thud.

And then there’s the Volcano God-worshipping nutter at the heart of it all, giving the film its star quality. Flinging himself off the world’s tallest building with glee and running straight palmed at every opportunity, Tom Cruise proves that he’s not too old for this shit yet. While newcomer to the franchise Jeremy Renner adequately files for his Bourne credentials here with some fast-paced, serious-faced combat, it’s Cruise’s courage and enthusiasm that makes it so darn watchable. That, and the fact that he is clearly a complete loon.

Read the original review
Also out this week

Demons 1& 2 Blu-ray
Hard Boiled Sweets DVD & Blu-ray
The Wicker Tree Blu-ray
And out last week, which I didn’t have time to write about

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo DVD & Blu-ray
It’s great, by the way.

More:  DVD Weekly
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