FROZEN - BLU-RAY REVIEW

FROZEN - HOME RELEASE (BLU-RAY)

Release Date: Out Now (Monday 31 March 2014)

Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk (voices)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

THE FILM:

Disney are riding high on the (admittedly deserved) success of Frozen, having last month added two Academy Awards (Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song) to it’s now sizable mantle of gongs and plaudits, a Broadway musical adaptation confirmed as being in the works and just today having been announced as officially the most successful animated film of all time, surpassing previous record holder Toy Story 3. Arriving on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital HD this week is no doubt only going to add to the cultural behemoth that the film has become.

SAVING MR. BANKS - BLU-RAY REVIEW

SAVING MR. BANKS - HOME RELEASE (BLU-RAY)

Release Date: Out Now (Monday 24 March 2014)

Director: John Lee Hancock

Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti,

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

THE FILM:

Despite some initial audience confusion as to precisely what it was actually about, Saving Mr. Banks comes together with extraordinary clarity and efficiency, shedding off any ambiguity or identity crisis from the off, managing to juggle various different elements and timeframes into a thoroughly charming, consistently entertaining and brilliantly judged piece of filmmaking which has all the charm, whimsy and heart of anything Disney put his name to. Fundamentally it presents a dramatisation of the early pre-production work that went into the making of the Mary Poppins movie back in the early 1960’s, which saw the cantankerous and principled author of the original books, P. L. Travers (a resplendent Emma Thompson) come to loggerheads with a determined Walt Disney (Tom Hanks, who suggests rather than imitates the famous studio head) who saw the opportunity to alter her works through a more fantastical and family-friendly filter that she expressly loathed. 

IRON MAN 3 - BLU-RAY REVIEW

IRON MAN 3 - HOME RELEASE (BLU-RAY)

Release Date: Monday 9 September 2013
Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley,
Home Release Reviewed: UK Blu-Ray Release (1 Disc)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

THE FILM:

Robert Downey Jnr’s ever-popular Tony Stark returns for the fourth (including Avengers Assemble) and potentially final time as his world is brought to fire and ruin at the hands of elusive yet deadly terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) in Marvel’s Iron Man 3. Coming off the back of the disappointing 2nd installment in the franchise, followed by the subsequent commercial and critical success of Avengers, Iron Man 3 had a considerable amount of expectations and responsibility on its iron-clad shoulders.

Thankfully it is a solid, suitably character-driven slice of superhero spectacle and fun which continues to find much of its charm and appeal courtesy of Downey Jnr’s winning central turn which remains fresh, funny and consistently engaging, even with the more insular, troubled character he has become after his New York shenanigans with the Avengers. For action purists and a younger audience there is a little muddying of the plot and slowing of the pace in the middle portion of the film in particular, with subplots such as Stark’s anxiety attacks feeling purposeful yet a little shoehorned in and ultimately not particularly well resolved. The film does kick up the ante for a suitably bombastic, visceral and satisfying extended finale, but never quite reaches the dizzying heights of spectacle and awe that we saw the same character headline with Avengers last year.

If Iron Man 3 is to be the last in the series, then it goes out on a decidedly more worthwhile high than the disappointing first sequel. True, there’s not altogether that much of the titular superhero in action, the motives and plot twists of the movies villainy is at times both hackneyed (get the President!) and unclear (Sales? Cover-up? Weaponisation?) but overall there is plenty to enjoy and appreciate in this slightly muddled but thoroughly entertaining slice of superhero goodness with that quintessential Marvel gloss and glean.