DVD Survival (erm, Gift) Guide
Thanks to a combination of Netflix, iTunes and Pirate Bay, you've probably not bought a DVD since last Christmas. Help save this flailing industry by splurging on some hard copies for your loved ones this festive season
Cold in July / The Guest (for children of the 80s)
There was a distinctly 80s vibe on our cinema screens this year. Not that we’re complaining if the results are as wry as Jim Mickle’s neo-noir Cold in July or Adam Wingard’s blackly comic thriller The Guest. These young horror filmmakers have embraced the garish visuals and the grisly violence of the decade, but they also smuggle in its sharp social satire and inventive camera work – two qualities desperate for a comeback in modern genre cinema.
Both are on Blu-ray and DVD from Icon Home Entertainment
22 Jump Street (for those who still think Channing Tatum is a wooden pretty boy)
Talking of the 80s, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s reboot of the Johnny Depp-starring TV show 21 Jump Street, about young-looking cops going undercover in high school, proved an unexpected delight. That its sequel, 22 Jump Street, is even better is a minor miracle. Even more unbelievably, Channing Tatum, once thought no more than a serviceable hunk in films like Step Up and GI Joe, gives the year’s most joyous comic performance.
On Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
The Day the Earth Caught Fire / The Glitterball (for those who like their sci-fi home grown)
One of the highlights of the cinematic year has been the BFI’s nationwide Days of Fear and Wonder sci-fi season. Its pleasures aren’t confined to cinema screens, though, as evidenced by this brace of BFI DVD releases. H-bomb disaster flick The Day the Earth Caught Fire has the fear part covered, while delightful zero-budget alien adventure The Glitterball, which would go on to inspire Spielberg’s ET, provides a low-key wonder (the alien is played by a spray-painted ping-pong ball).
On DVD from BFI
Six Gothic Tales (for those who like their horror to be retina-searing)
Film history will remember Roger Corman as the visionary B-movie producer who nurtured so many of America’s finest filmmaking talents, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme. But he’s a great director in his own right. The best of his films include this sextet of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. What recommends them are their eye-popping colour schemes and their star, Vincent Price, who could send a chill down your spine with a raise of his eyebrow.
On Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video
The Werner Herzog Collection (for fans of chaos, hostility and murder)
“I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder.” So says the imitable Werner Herzog in voice-over in Grizzly Man. After spending the festive period with your family, you’re sure to agree. Ease into the New Year with more of the Bavarian maverick’s doom-laden wisdom.
On Blu-ray and DVD from BFI
How to Train Your Dragon 2 / The Lego Movie (for parents who’ve seen Cars 2 one too many times)
Time was, whenever you needed to pick up a movie for a little 'un, Pixar had you covered. Not any more: the once inventive studio has been running on empty since joining forces with Disney. No animated film this year delivers the heart-stirring emotions with the whip-smart comedy of Pixar at its very best, but in tandem the above double bill will do the trick: Dragon 2 lifts the hairs on the back of your neck; The LEGO Movie has the belly laughs.
On Blu-ray and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video respectively
Ida (for fans of both Sister Act and the Polish New Wave)
“A nun and a chain smoking Jewish prostitute go on a road trip…” This isn’t the start of a bawdy joke, it’s the abbreviated plot synopsis to Paweł Pawlikowski’s extraordinary comeback, Ida. It narrowly missed out on a place on our top ten films of the year, but it deserves a place in your DVD collection.
On Blu-ray and DVD from Artificial Eye
Guardians of the Galaxy (for those looking for a new Han Solo)
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a smattering of derring-do. Instead of watching The Great Escape or Raiders of the Lost Ark for the umpteenth time, Marvel has come to the rescue with its most flat-out fun film yet. Much of the pleasure stems from Chris Pratt, whose goofy charisma puts all the other movie Chrises – Evans, Hemsworth, Pine – in the shade.
On Blu-ray and DVD from Walt Disney
More From the Skinny:
• Southern Discomfort: Jim Mickle on Cold in July
• Back in the Habit: Pawel Pawlikowski on Ida