Mirren in The Tempest comes to DVD

The Deadly Females
Out to rent on DVD

Tracy Reed (Dr. Strangelove, A Shot In The Dark) heads the cast of all-female assassins who, having lured their various deserving victims with sexual promises, proceed to coldly dispatch them one by one.

Donavan Winter's 1976 exploitaion film was enough to get a lot of people hot under the collar way back when it was released but that was 35 years ago, and things have most definitely changed.

Refreshing as it must have been to have such a comprehensive role-reversal presented onscreen - and these lady killers are as ruthless and detached as any man could be - it's a purely cinematic one when you take into account the amount of exposed flesh required to satisfy not only their victims but their director as well.

Some of the plan-hatching scenes are interesting and quaintly amusing, as are some of the less macho methods of execution but, really, this is an archive piece, teaching us only - and unintentionally - about the sexual politics of the 1970s.

Academic researchers and fans of very soft porn may find it worthwhile, the rest of us have Kill Bill to keep us in check.

The Tempest
Out to rent on DVD and Blu ray

As Julie Taymor's big screen adaptaion of the William Shakespeare play of the same name comes to home rental, we are afforded yet another opportunity to see master magician Helen Mirren rescue yet another wayward movie.

Telling the story of Prospera, Duchess of Milan, her exile with her daughter and subsequent enslavement of monster Caliban, the sole inhabitant of the otherwise deserted island they arrive on, Taymor uses Shakespeare's revenge narrative as a deft framework in which to explore the effects of scorn on a woman whose only perceived weakness is her gender.

It's an inspired idea, for sure, but its execution falls short of Mirren's outstanding performance in practically every department, from the lousy comedy of Russell Brand and Alfred Molina as the villains to the obstructive use of special effects and a general feeling of malaise elsewhere in the production.

Despite all of this, though, Mirren casts a spell on the audience, adding a warmth and humanity to the lead role which is quintessentially her own.

It's absolutely worth watching. But only for her.

Life in a Day
Out to rent on DVD

With material crowdsourced from Youtube - a request for film footage of any description, as long as it was filmed on the seemingly arbitrary date of 24th of July, 2010, was posted online - Kevin Macdonald sets out to create a cutting-edge snapshot of life on planet Earth in the 21st Century.

The film's brilliantly simple, ultra-modern and all-encompassing production method alone would justify anybody giving it a gander, but Macdonald takes a bold idea and crafts it into a credible and heartfelt film in its own right.

With the profusion of recording devices in the digital age (Macdonald and his assistants had 4,500 hours of footage to sift through), the resulting film was always going to be a dense collage of human experience, and it indeed weaves together everything from simple recreation to births, deaths and disasters.

At times the onslaught of imagery can be a bit much but its beauty, diversity and Macdonald's craftsmanship will see you through with a gentle ease.

The Way
Out to rent on DVD and Blu ray

Martin Sheen takes the lead in this collaboration with his son Emilio Estevez as they tell the story of Tom, the Californian eye doctor who, after hearing about the death of his pilgrim son, decides to walk his ashes to their chosen destination.

Devoid of cars and youth culture, this is a quirky little road movie, albeit one which is held together only by the kind of commanding performance Sheen is so frequently capable of.

The casting and script certainly leave a lot to be desired, as Sheen is joined on the way by Deborah Kara Unger as an irritatingly neurotic Canadian who has, for some reason, decided to quit smoking on a mountainside on the French-Spanish border and James Nesbitt as the excruciatingly annoying would-be writer.

However, amongst all this Sheen somehow manages to hold the audience for long enough to see Tom complete his transformative journey from stubborn father to the open, loving human being who ends the film.

It's not overtly religious but a touching and deeply personal, if flawed, study of the father-son relationship and a chance to see Sheen doing what he does best - in nearly every scene.

And the rest
more new dvd releases this week:

Out to rent on DVD and Blu ray
Helldriver

Out to rent on Blu ray
Maniac Cop

Out to rent on DVD and Blu ray at Blockbuster only
The Real Michael Jackson.

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