An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Bin the takeaway: Ratatouille
Beautifully shot: Control
Worth a punt: The Black Donnellys
Skewed: The Brave One
Appealing: In Living The True Gods
A magical feast for the eyes in Ratatouille, the award-winning Control, and Jodie Foster wastes her talent in The Brave One.
DVD OF THE WEEK
Ratatouille
Walt Disney Studios, U, £22.99
*****
The Chinese New Year brings us the Year of the Rat - charismatic, passionate and hard-working.
Those are certainly virtues shared by Disney/Pixar's latest animated hero Remy, a French rodent (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who also loves cooking. Trouble is, nobody likes rats in their kitchen - except Linguini, put-upon garbage boy of posh restaurant Gusteau's, who sees Remy's culinary genius as a chance to curry favour with the head chef.
Together they cook up a storm - and a ratatouille so good it defrosts cold-hearted food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole).
What with the movie posters 'helpfully' spelling out rat-a-too-ee beneath the main title, fears were that this would be a bit patronising, a Mickey Mouse version of haute cuisine. Instead, it's a loving, sincere, you can-conquer-anyone-or-anything tale so virtuous in its love of food, you'll bin the takeaway and reach for the tarragon.
Plus, Pixar has created a magical feast for the eyes, rendering every strand of fur with such perfection you can almost reach out and stroke it. Lip-smackingly good.
Extras: Includes animated short Lifted, making of and behind the scenes docs, deleted scenes, character profiles. Sharon Lougher
Control
Momentum Pictures, 15, £19.99
*****
'This is not a music film,' insists director Anton Corbijn, and he's quite right. Even if you're only a passing acquaintance of seminal 1970s Northern indie heroes Joy Division, don't miss out on what's primarily an intense, electrifying love story.
Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) is a Bowie-loving teen whose rock-star dreams are put on hold when he impulsively marries his best mate's bird Debbie (Samantha Morton). She gets a bun in the oven; he gets a job in the dole office. Soon Ian is crazy to break free. Signed by Factory Records, his band Joy Division hit the tour trail where he falls for sexy independent Annik (Alexandra Maria Lara).
Tormented by guilt and his worsening epilepsy, Ian starts to lose control as the swirling fears that make his lyrics so haunting tear him apart.
Beautifully shot in monochrome by rock photographer Corbijn, it's both an entertainingly witty and a core-shakingly emotional journey. The grown men who sobbed in the cinema will be relieved they can now hug a sofa cushion and wail in private.
Extras: Director's commentary, making of, extended performance scenes, 1999 video directed by Anton Corbijn, photos, trailer. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
The Black Donnellys
Universal, 15, £24.99
****
Oscar-winning Crash scribes Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco smash their way into TV gangster territory with this bouncily entertaining Sopranos for juniors.
Inspired by Moresco's experience of growing up in Hell's Kitchen, this is NYC organised crime from the point of view of four feisty Irish-American brothers who - feel the stereotypes - drink, brawl and beat people to mush in basements.
The brothers' colourfully named pal Joey Ice Cream frames the story, recounting the atmospherically filmed tales from his jail cell, but it's Tommy, the noblest bruv, who is the main protagonist.
Tommy's love for his family, and the girl he can't get, dominate the action, skidding this clear of 18-certificate turf. How they all make it to the infuriatingly open-ended final episode is anyone's guess - Tony Soprano could have eaten them for breakfast. Loveable for all its flaws (plot implausibility, and Tom Guiry as eldest bro Jimmy overacting his way into a De Niro-shaped coffin), there's plenty of human emotion and drama to keep you switched on. Definitely worth a punt.
Extras: Deleted scenes. SL
The Brave One
Warner Home Video, 18, £19.99
**
Jodie Foster does tough. Jodie Foster does uncompromising. Unfortunately, she also does movies like The Brave One, a sad waste of her talents. Foster plays Erica Bain, a New York radio show host whose life is torn apart when her fiancé - an underused Naveen Andrews from Lost - is beaten to death by thugs in Central Park.
The tragedy hurls Erica into an unrealistic spiral of revenge that would make Charles Bronson wince, including a subway shooting sparked by an argument over the merits of Radiohead.
Had director Neil Jordan taken the promising platform of the death of a loved one and presented a meaningful character study, The Brave One could have had an understated way of living up to its title.
Instead, he opts for a production of 'Jodie Get Your Gun' as Foster shoots down any cardboard cut-out bad guy who moves, spitting out inappropriate Arnie-esque quips with abandon.
Add in a misjudged performance from Terrence Howard as the most inept cop in cinema since Clouseau, and you have a film so skewed it deserves its ridiculous ending.
Extras: Deleted scenes, I Walk The City featurette. Ross McGuinness
In Living The True Gods
Stones Throw, £8.99
****
The second DVD from the Stones Throw label presents the music videos for 16 tracks of abstract, progressive rap (Madvillain, Quasimoto) and instrumental hip-hop goodness (J Dilla, James Pants).
Stones Throw's appeal rests on the experimental leanings of its artists, their work brought to life visually through animation and motion graphics.
Helium-voiced, sex-obsessed rapper Quasimoto becomes an animated half-man, half-hippo meandering through a Sonic The Hedgehog environment; J Dilla's Nothing Like This begins as a gentle cartoon of a shark and a jellyfish falling in love until a fisherman snares the shark and the jellyfish wreaks revenge.
The spirits of Hendrix and Dalí course through the veins of the music and promos gathered here. Add in revealing interviews with label founder Peanut Butter Wolf and late super-producer Dilla, as well as a stylish poster, and this is an essential slice of indie hip-hop history.
Extras: Seven bonus features including Quasimoto live. Rahul Verma
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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