DVDs of the week

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Keep your chin up: Dennis Quaid in Vantage Point

Punchy: Vantage Point

Great ending: Four Minutes

Renewal: Atlantic City

Unusual: You, The Living

Dismal: The Hottie And The Nottie

Look here too

• Dark Knight review
• X Files review

DVD OF THE WEEK
Vantage Point
Sony, 12, £19.99
***
If Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne went on a date with a camera, the resulting footage might resemble Vantage Point, a slight but slick action movie rescued by a fun car chase and Dennis Quaid's chin. Careful not to spoil his punchy movie with something as trivial as character development, British director Pete Travis stages some flamboyant set pieces and then lets the end credits roll. Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt are all terrific actors but thesping is not required for this frenetic '24 with a twist' premise which offers six perspectives on the attempted assassination of a US president in Spain. Rather like assembling a child's jigsaw puzzle, piecing the plot together is simple yet satisfying, especially when spotting a 'secret' bad guy so signposted he might as well be wearing a sandwich board. In the finale, the high-speed pursuit teaches a valuable lesson: if you are not prepared to drive over a cute little girl, you are not cut out to be a terrorist.
Extras: Director's commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes and digital copy of the film.
Ross McGuinness

Four Minutes
Peccadillo Pictures, 15, £17.99
****
Following last year's The Lives Of Others, this moving drama is another victory for German cinema – as the swathe of international awards it has garnered attests. Written and directed by Chris Kraus, Four Minutes is a beautifully constructed tale of two women, both products of a violent past, who find strength and a reason to go on through a mutual appreciation of music.

Monica Bleibtreu is superb as the elderly Traude Krüger, who has taught piano to inmates at a women's prison since World War II. It's in this bleak setting that she comes across young convicted murderer Jenny (newcomer Hannah Herzsprung, equally brilliant), whose criminal record and fierce exterior hide a remarkable musical talent.

After witnessing her masterfully tinkling the ivories (in handcuffs, no less), Traude makes it her mission to let Jenny realise her full potential and enters her into a prestigious piano competition.

The pair's journey plays out like an absorbing composition, the healing power of music forging a firm bond that strengthens as secrets are revealed and personal demons are exorcised, and which sweeps you along to an unforgettable climax.
Extras: Director and cast interviews.
Damian Tully-Pointon

Atlantic City
Network, 15, £12.99
****
Atlantic City is arguably the film that elevated Susan Sarandon to star status – and not solely because the opening scene sees her rubbing lemons over her breasts. She gives a performance of subtle humour and depth in Louis Malle's delicate part-thriller, part-love story, for which she earned an Oscar nomination. The 1980 film also displays the charms of an older, still dashing, Burt Lancaster (also Oscar-nominated) in one of his last lead roles.

The pair play neighbours – Sarandon a hard-working croupier-in-training, Lancaster a washed-up gangster still clinging to his former Las Vegas glory days – who become embroiled in a drugs racket. John Guare's script is still sharp and funny nearly 30 years on and the action scenes are a thrill but it's the crumbling Atlantic City that's the real star. Shots of its buildings being demolished provide a fitting backdrop to the frustrated ambitions of the two characters and the sense of renewal they both achieve.
Extras: None.
Zena Alkayat

You, The Living
Artificial Eye, 15, £19.99
****
You, The Living? More like You The (Living) Dead. One of the most bizarre films of the year isn't even really a film so much as a blackly comic sketch show: think Monty Python enacted by corpses. A man drags a dog down the street – literally, because it's so entangled in the dog lead.

Another man is sentenced to death by electric chair for magnificently botching the tablecloth-pulling trick. Everyone looks the colour of a cadaver and the humour is a similar shade. You won't know whether to guffaw at these surreal vignettes or throw yourself out of the window.

But you can't deny the originality, impact and, ironically, the sheer verve of Swedish director Roy Andersson's uniquely wry observation. For once here is a brand new cult offering that doesn't feel like a pale rip-off. Ever thought life was absurd? This is one for you.
Extras: Director's commentary, behind the scenes, trailer, excerpts from other Roy Andersson films (amazingly, he's best known for his TV adverts).
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

The Hottie And The Nottie
Pathe, 12, £15.99
*
Three cheers for star and executive producer' Paris Hilton. She's ensured this dismal affair lives up to its painfully awful title. Hilton is Cristabel – a charity worker (Yes! Really!) who won't date until her ugly best friend' June finds a fella. Cue 40 minutes of grotty, gross-out japes followed by an hour of subHollyoaks, lovelorn hand-wringing.

Paris proves she is to acting what she was to singing – even Carmen Electra doesn't have anything to worry about. But what a vanity project. We're treated' to lingering slow-motion shots of Hilton in a bikini while the cast spout dialogue such as: Have you considered modelling? You have amazing bone structure.' Surely some mistake.

Spare a thought for Christine Lakin (June), though; she's presumably so desperate for work that the prospect of uglying up to play Hilton's sidekick seemed like a good idea. Don't you worry, Christine, things can't get any worse than this...
Extras: Making-of doc, stills gallery, theatrical trailer, 'video dating'.
Andrew Williams

 

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