Welcome back to our weekly blog, keeping you up to date on what's new on DVD each week. With the much anticipated "Ratatouille" and Rob Zombie's "Halloween" there's sure to be something to tickle your fancy. Enjoy.
In Pixar's new animated-adventure, Ratatouille, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down. Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef.
3 copies in store Thursday 7th February 2
Inspired by Carpenter's 1978 original, Rob Zombie's Halloween focuses on the early years of the young Michael Myers. After going on a murdering rampage in his home-town Michael is sentenced to 17 years of incarceration at the Smith's Grove Sanitarium maximum-security mental facility where he is treated by noted child behaviorist Dr. Samuel Loomis - the only person who can truly understand Michael's evil nature. Now, 17 years later, Michael escapes from the mental facility on Halloween and begins a murderous trek back to Haddonfield to continue his killing streak and seek resolution to events from his past. In Haddonfield, Michael begins stalking a high school girl, Laurie Strode, and her friends, Annie and Lynda. When Dr. Loomis, now a successful author for his book on Michael, hears of his escape, he enlists the help of Haddonfield's Sheriff Brackett to find and put an end to Michael's reign of terror.
2 copies in store 7th February 2008
The true story of the biggest security breach in US history. Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) is a veteran intelligence agent who has been reassigned to the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. to head up a new division to protect all the FBI's classified information. Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) is a young employee of the Bureau, a surveillance and computer specialist who hopes to become an FBI field agent one day. He is recruited to his dream job in Intelligence by his boss Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) to clerk for Hanssen. But O'Neill soon finds out why he was really assigned to his new post; Hanssen has been selling secrets to the Soviets for years and his employers know it. They just need more information on him before they can make an arrest and a tricky game of cat and mouse ensues...
1 copy in store 7th February 2008
Thriller starring Kevin Costner. Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful businessman, a generous philanthropist, a loving father and a devoted husband. Seemingly, he's perfect. But Brooks has a secret - he is also the notorious Thumbprint Killer. Until now, he has managed to keep his two incompatible worlds from intersecting by controlling his cunning alter ego (William Hurt). But as he succumbs to one more murderous urge, an amateur photographer (Dane Cook) witnesses the crime and Brooks finds himself trapped in the twisted agenda of an opportunistic bystander, as well as hunted by an unorthodox and tenacious investigator, Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore). Now, a terrifying game is unfolding where desire is dark, knowledge is deadly and the man who has everything has everything to hide.
1 copy in store 7th February 2008
Thriller starring Jodie Foster as Erica Bain, host of a New York radio show whose life is shattered by a brutal attack that leaves her fiance (Naveen Andrews) dead, her own body shattered and her sense of safety permanently destroyed. Unable to move past the tragedy, Erica begins prowling the city streets at night to track down the men she holds responsible and the fear that once gripped her becomes something else. As stories of an anonymous vigilante grip New York, NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard) pieces together the clues. With both Mercer and her conscience closing in, Erica must confront the possibility that her quest for justice has changed her into the very thing she hunts.
3 copies in store 7th February 2008
Teen mystery starring Emma Roberts as the resourceful teen detective. When Nancy leaves her friendly hometown of River Heights for the West Coast and enrols at Hollywood High, her unique personal style immediately sets her apart from her self-absorbed, fast-living peers, especially reigning mean-girl fashionistas Inga (Daniella Monet) and Trish (Kelly Vitz). Their less-than-warm reception might bother the average new girl in town, but not Nancy. She has more important things to think about - namely, a brand new mystery. Even though she promised her worried Dad (Tate Donovan) that she'd quit the 'sleuthing' business, it isn't long before Nancy gets a lead on one of the greatest unsolved cases of all time: the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of famous actress Dehlia Draycott (Laura Elena Harring).
1 copy in store 7th February 2008
Romantic drama set in the 1960s. Amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with 'Dr. Robert' (Bono) and 'Mr. Kite' (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy - against all odds - to find their own way back to each other.
1 copy in store 7th February 2008
Based on Valerio Massimo Manfredi's bestselling historical adventure novel, The Last Legion begins around 470 A.D., just prior to the fall of the colossal Roman Empire. As the most recent in a long line of Caesars, a young Roman child, Romulus (Thomas Sangster) is poised to inherit the throne - until Germanic forces invade, lay siege to the city, and brutally murder his parents. At the last second, with his life hanging by a thread, Romulus receives the protection of military commander Aurelius (Colin Firth), who assembles a cadre of rebels, including Romulus, the boy's magician instructor Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley) and the Indian female warrior Mira (Aishwarya Rai). After Romulus discovers an enchanted sword once claimed by Julius Caesar, the troupe heads out to the province of Britannia and Hadrian's Wall. There, the men will regroup with the Ninth Legion and plan one final triumphant stand against the barbarian invaders of Rome.
1 copy in store 7th February 2008
Here's what's in store for you movie fans this week...
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house 'fixer' at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of his employer's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), to whom Clayton feels a deep loyalty. He arranges top-flight legal services and skirts through loopholes for their ethically questionable clients. Though burned out, disillusioned and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his messy private life has left him inextricably tied to the firm. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton finds himself in the centre of a conspiratorial maelstrom where he must decide between his loyalty and his conscience.
A slightly different slant on the 'slacker' comedy genre directed by 'Friends' star David Schwimmer. Five years ago Dennis (Simon Pegg) was at the altar about to marry Libby (Thandie Newton), his pregnant fiancee. He got cold feet and headed for the hills, and he's been going in circles ever since. When Dennis discovers Libby's now hooked up with high-flying-go-getter Whit (Hank Azaria), he realizes it's now or never. Assisted by his friend Gordon (Dylan Moran), he decides to enter a marathon to show he's not a quitter but then finds out just how much sweat, strain and tears it takes to run for 26 miles. No one rates his chances, but Dennis knows this is the only way to stop being a running joke.
