New DVD releases

Jan 24 2010 by Roz Laws, Sunday Mercury

wCLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (U) is a colourful and fun animated adventure. Flint Lockwood (the voice of Bill Hader) invents a machine which turns water into food. It gets shot into the atmosphere and suddenly it’s raining cheeseburgers, then TV weathergirl Anna Faris arrives to report on the phenomenon. Great in 3D as giant hot dogs fall from the sky.

wFAME (12) is a remake of the 1980 film, with the cast still breaking into song and dance in the school canteen. There’s a new batch of students at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, with predictable stories to tell. It’s cheesy with a messy plot, though some of the routines are good.

wMESRINE PARTS 1 & 2 (18) is an epic, brutal and true tale of notorious French criminal Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel). We see him escape from prison and rob banks in a brilliantly-filmed, if long film – the two parts come in at just under four hours.

wFISH TANK (15) is a well-made and compelling though very bleak film about a 15-year-old girl (Katie Jarvis) who lives on a rundown estate. Tensions rise with the arrival of her mum’s new boyfriend, Michael Fassbender.

wWHITEOUT (15) is an appropriate title given our recent weather conditions, but this routine thriller is actually set in Antarctica. Kate Beckinsale is a US Marshal who doesn’t usually have much crime to solve until she finds a murdered man, frozen in the snow.