Donald Clarkeand Michael Dwyerreview the latest DVD releases
THE WALTER HILL COLLECTION
*****
This fine six-film box set is an overdue celebration of a writer, producer and director who has always preferred revealing characters through drama rather than explaining them through dialogue. Hill's distinctive visual style and flair for action are amply demonstrated in this selection.
Dialogue is minimal in The Driver(1978), starring Ryan O'Neal as an ace getaway driver and Bruce Dern as the detective on his trail - and some of the best car crashes ever filmed. Hill cited Xenophon as inspiration for The Warriors(1979), his arresting cult picture of rival New York street gangs.
The Long Riders(1980) features real-life brothers David, Keith and Robert Carradine, Stacy and James Keach, and Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Younger, James and Miller brothers. It features a terrific Ry Cooder score, as does Hill's Vietnam allegory Southern Comfort(1981), a powerful, atmospheric drama of a National Guard unit lost and imperilled in the Louisiana bayous.
Extreme Prejudice(1987) sets up a mythic conflict between good and evil, as personified by a dogged Texas Ranger (Nick Nolte) and a drugs baron (Powers Boothe). It is tough and violent, like many Hill movies, but not as much as Johnny Handsome(1989), starring Mickey Rourke as a disfigured criminal who undergoes plastic surgery.
The set includes trailers and an interview with Hill. MD
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
***
Directed by Nicholas Stoller. Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand 15 cert
On holiday in Hawaii, a broken- hearted composer (Segel) finds that his actress ex-lover (Bell) is staying at the same hotel with an oversexed British rocker (Brand). Segel's screenplay injects the romantic comedy formula with a welcome bitterness and healthy cynicism. MD
STREET KINGS
**
Directed by David Ayer. Starring Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Chris Evans, Hugh Laurie 18 cert
Based on a James Ellroy story, Ayer's disappointingly conventional thriller depicts Los Angeles as a city rife with police corruption. Reeves is impressive as a maverick vice squad detective drinking heavily since the death of his wife. The action sequences, which are many and violent, are well staged.
21
**
Directed by Robert Luketic. Starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne 12 cert
A Mephistophelean maths lecturer (Spacey) entices a bright Boston student (Sturgess) to apply his mathematical skills at the blackjack tables of Las Vegas. The set-up is intriguing, and factually based, but the treatment is simplistic, with sentimentalised, moralising consequences.
THE EYE
**
Directed by David Moreau, Xavier Palud. Starring Jessica Alba, Parker Posey, Alessandro Nivola 15 cert
A hitherto blind concert violinist encounters worrying visions after receiving a cornea transplant. There are some good things in this latest adaptation of an Asian horror film: eerie visuals, impressive sense of foreboding. But Alba's usual flat performance kills the picture dead within 20 minutes.
FOOL'S GOLD
*
Directed by Andy Tennant. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone 12 cert
Truly awful romantic comedy in which Hudson (bland) and McConaughey (deadened) seek treasure off the coast of Florida. What with all that boating and sunbathing, it looks as if the cast had a good time. Sadly, blameless DVD fans are far less likely to enjoy themselves. Utterly dire.
DOOMSDAY
*
Directed by Neil Marshall. Starring Rhona Mitri, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, David O'Hara, Sean Pertwee, Malcolm McDowell 18 cert
Scotland is placed under quarantine when millions are infected with a fatal virus in Marshall's risibly scripted, frenetically edited and wearisomely familiar futuristic yarn.
READER OFFER
Twenty copies of Forgetting Sarah Marshallare available to readers upon release, courtesy of The Ticketand HMV. Text it8, your name and address to 53307 to be in with a chance to win one. One copy per person only. Texts cost 60c (network charges vary). Service by Phonovation Ltd (01-2844060). Full terms and conditions from the Promotions Department, The Irish Times(01-6758000)
