A bunch of potentially awesome films that bypassed local cinemas are available on Blu-ray and/or DVD this month, including several whose availability we keep getting asked about. The hugely ambitious Cloud Atlas for one, as well as Arnie comeback vehicle The Last Stand, Steven Soderbergh’s (supposedly final) feature Side Effects and Brit rapper Ben Drew’s blink-and-you-would-have-missed-it-in-cinemas iLL Manors.
Cloud Atlas
In a Nutshell: The Wachowskis team up with director Tom Tykwer to adapt novelist David Mitchell’s multi-generational and genre-spanning bestseller. Cloud Atlas mashes together historical adventure, drama, noir, comedy, and both high-tech and post-apocalyptic sci-fi – all utilising the same core ensemble cast (Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant).
The Buzz: 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. 244 critics have weighed in, and there seems to be little middle ground based on comments such as “surely this is one of the most ambitious films ever made” (Roger Ebert); “It’s a polarizing, ambitious, sometimes beautiful and occasionally maddening epic” (Richard Roeper); and “three directors, plus six story lines, times five centuries equals one grandly conceived, impressively mounted megaflop” (Christian Science Monitor).
Reason to Watch: Even if the film proves imperfect, it’s hard to resist the visual flair of Cloud Atlas’ directors or their sheer audacity in adapting a borderline unfilmable novel.
The Last Stand
In a Nutshell: Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t had a lead role since 2002, and now that he’s washed his hands of U.S. politics they are once again free to hold guns and punch people , both of which we expect to see plenty of as smalltown sheriff Arnie does his damnedest to apprehend heavily armed crims about to pass through his turf.
The Buzz: 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. 149 reviewers checked out Arnie’s comeback, and even the most positive couldn’t avoid noting flaws in the film: “may not herald a full-scale reemergence for Arnold the Action Star, but it’s clearly a step in that direction” (LA Times); “Arnold ain’t all he used to be but still has a little punch left in this just passable violent action potboiler” (Variety).
Reason to Watch: For starters, it’s Arnie, dammit. And given that terrible cameos are all we’ve seen of him for a decade, even an average action flick is a step up. Plus this is the first U.S. film by Korean director Ji-woon Kim (I Saw the Devil).
Side Effects
In a Nutshell: Steven Soderbergh’s final feature film before retirement (his Liberace biopic is technically a TV movie) follows young wife Rooney Mara reacts chaotically to anti-anxiety medication, taking herself, husband Channing Tatum and psychiatrist Jude Law into some twisted territory.
The Buzz: 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. 184 reviews make comments like “As a thriller in the Hitchcock mould, Side Effects is great fun” (Time Out); “A cracking thriller that ranks amongst Soderbergh’s best””(Toronto Star); and simply “just see it” (TIME).
Reason to Watch: Soderbergh’s going out with a bang, this superior thriller marrying his taut and controlled style to a script that surprises in all the right places. Having the benefit of seeing this already we can tell you that you’ve already read enough, hurry up and watch it.
iLL Manors
In a Nutshell: Ardent fans of Ben Drew/Plan B may have caught this in its fleeting appearance in cinemas, but most of us missed the multi-talented lad’s directorial and screenwriting debut about London’s crime-centric culture, focusing on drug dealers, addicts and hookers.
The Buzz: 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. 26 reviewers have opined on iLL Manors, heaping praise on Drew along the lines of “this is an impressively mature and technically assured work” (Hollywood Reporter) and “instinctively iLL Manors feels important” (Time Out).
Reason to Watch: The sheer impressiveness of this filmic debut by someone that’s already forged a strong musical career – as evidenced by Drew’s interlinking soundtrack.
