Latest video/DVD releases reviewed
STARSKY & HUTCH ***
Directed by Todd Phillips. Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis 15 cert
This spirited revamping of the 1970s TV cop show works as an affectionate spoof and as an avowedly retro wallow in nostalgia. Stiller and Wilson make an engagingly self-effacing double act, performing with an infectious sense of humour, while Snoop Dogg is delightfully deadpan as Huggy Bear. Michael Dwyer
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE ***
Directed by Peter Berg. Starring The Rock, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken 12 cert
Assigned to bring a sassy student (Scott) back home from the Amazon, a modern-day bounty hunter (The Rock) encounters a gorgeous revolutionary (Dawson) and an avaricious tyrant (an amusingly mannered Dawson). Actor-turned-director Berg orchestrates the vigorous and even quite inventively devised and choreographed action sequences with cinematic flair. Michael Dwyer
LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION ***
Directed by Joe Dante. Starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, Steve Martin, Joan Cusack, Heather Locklear Gen cert
Dante's delightfully chaotic tribute to the great Warner Brothers cartoons sends Brendan Fraser, who has always looked rather like a cartoon character, off to Vegas, which has always looked like a cartoon location, to have anvils dropped upon his head. It is lightweight stuff, of course, but the director is to be praised for replicating the Looney Tunes tone so perfectly. Donald Clarke
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS *****
Directed by Andrew Jarecki 15 cert
Jarecki's documentary, which investigated the aftermath of a notorious case of child sex abuse in 1980s Long Island, was a very impressive piece of work, but the DVD is something else again. The two-disc package contains a wealth of extra evidence and reactions from the various participants, all of which should help viewers re-evaluate their already confused assessments of the peculiar, eccentric Friedman family. A rare example of a DVD completely superseding the original release. Donald Clarke
