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,
Anchor: George Clooney steals the show in Michael Clayton
A must-see: The Singer is a love comedy
Intelligent: Eddie Izzard stars in The Riches
Waste of talent: The Nanny Diaries
Twaddle: Simon Pegg should have run a mile from Run Fat Boy Run
Courtroom drama in Michael Clayton and substandard twaddle from Simon Pegg's Run, Fat Boy, Run, are among this week's DVD offerings.
DVD OF THE WEEK
Michael Clayton
Pathe Distribution, 15, £19.99
***
From 12 Angry Men to A Few Good Men, legal dramas tend to feature two things: testosterone and shouting.
In Michael Clayton, however, what little bluster there is occurs away from the courtroom, in a shadowy world of corporate greed.
The titular anti-hero (a restrained George Clooney) is a 'fixer' for a New York law firm. When one of the firm's top lawyers (Tom Wilkinson) goes off the rails during a huge case, Clayton is called in to clean up the mess, inadvertently risking his life.
Despite showy turns from Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton, this is Clooney's film, and he anchors it with an unflashy performance.
Bookended by an intriguing opening amd a fine ending, writer/director Tony Gilroy also executes one of the best death scenes in recent memory, as you might expect from the man who penned the Bourne movies.
And yet there is something cold about Michael Clayton. The characters are either manic or monstrous and a frustrating lack of urgency is only rectified in the final reel.
But if you want to know how it feels to take a silent cab ride with the best-looking man alive, this is the film for you.
Extras: Deleted scenes and an audio commentary with the Gilroy Brothers. Ross McGuinness
The Singer
Artificial Eye, 12, £19.99
****
Long gone are those hazy Jean De Florette glory days of the late 1980s/early 1990s, when French thespian Gerard Depardieu was considered a rather tasty sex croissant.
Currently best known as Obelix, Asterix's loveably foolish cartoon sidekick, a decade-long career slump sees the beyond-portly French actor considered a bit of a joke. That's something brilliantly played on in this superior, deeply satisfying French life crisis romcom.
Depardieu plays Alain, a corny nightclub crooner long past his best, who falls for a gamine, pretty twentysomething (Cecile De France). What should be a predictable fat old loser tragi-drama is magically transformed into a love comedy between sympathetic equals, thanks to Depardieu's unique magnetism.
He may look like a baby elephant in sateen, but he's rarely been on sexier form. The spareks between this mismatched couple could light up Paris.
A warmly witty script thankfully allows these top-of-form actors space to tease out the subtle, intimate character dynamics. A final held shot of Depardieu gazing silently at the camera is a genuine heart-stopper. A must.
Extras: Interview with the writer and director Xavier Giannoli, trailer. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
The Riches
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 15, £34.99
***
It sounds weird on paper - erudite British stand-up Eddie Izzard playing a high stakes traveller conman from Louisiana. But, once you get over the shock of Izzard with an American accent and a serious role, this series, which screened here on Virgin 1, drifts along just fine.
We meet Wayne Malloy (Izzard) as he goes to fetch his feisty wife Dahlia (fellow Brit Minnie Driver, in a powerhouse of a performance that got her nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe) from her two-year spell in prison.
After a run-in with Dahlia's extended family, the Malloys get caught up in a road accident 0 where the citims are a respectable couple about to start life in the posh suburb of Eden Falls.
The Malloys pinch the house keys, swap their RV for the life of Riley, and bulls*** their way through suburbia as they try to 'steal' the American Dream. Much suspense of disbelief is required as they keep up this implausible identity theft charade.
But, if you can do it, this is an intelligent, likeable look at surburbia through outsider eyes - and a welcome opportunity to see Izzard stretch his wings a little.
Extras: Commentary, a gag reel, casting sessions featurette, 'webisodes'. Sharon Lougher
The Nanny Diaries
Paramount Home Entertainment, 12, £15.99
**
By rights, The Nanny Diaries should be a charmer of a romcom, starring as it does a trio of Hollywood heavyweights.
Instead, it's a shocking waste of talent. Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti are impressively gathered, only to be cast as insipid stereotypes.
Johansson is plain Jane New Jersey graduate Annie who, on a quest to find out who she really is (yawn), passes up a high-flying career to become nanny to a wealthy Manhattan family: cue Linney and Giamatti as catty, upper-class horror mum and philandering, workaholic hubbie.
All three struggle to imbue the characters with any life and look half asleep as they contend with joint directors and scriptwriters Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's bland adaptation of the original book (by two real Manhattan nannies).
Annie's experience does throw up some laughs but, when she discovers the 'real Annie' and it's the same dreary character as before, the faint giggles turn to sobs of frustration.
Extras: Deleted scenes, making-of, interview with the book's authors. Zena Alkayat
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Entertainment In Video, 12, £19.99
**
After the glorious stupidity of Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg should have run a mile from this substandard romcom twaddle directed by yawn-on-legs David Schwimmer.
Out-of-shape scruffbag Dennis (Pegg) starts off as the improbable fiance of pregnant, posh sweetie Libby (Thandie Newton).
Commitment fears make him ditch her - still up the duff - at the altar: so we reconnect with him five years later, trying to bond with his new child and hack off Libby's new man Whit (The Simpson's Hank Azaria).
Whit is charming, rich, buff - and about to run the London Marathon. Chubby Pegg decides he must run it too if he's ever to win Libby back, with predictable results.
Pegg and co (with Dylan Moran and Harish Patel as the buddies egging him on) do their best with such pedestrian fare, but Schwimmer has shoehorned in too much schmaltz in place of silliness so no one comes out winning.
Extras: Commentary, outtakes, deleted scenes, trailer. SL
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