We’ve a big, mixed bag for you to explore this week at blockbuster.co.uk, a varied selection of glossy film fabulosity from smuggling thrills and exorcism chills to war-on-terror kick-assery and family-friendly furry fun-and-games. Intrigued? Confused? Read on!
A cracking crime thriller that sheds light on a world rarely seen on screen, Contraband stars Mark Wahlberg as a former smuggler forced by circumstance to take one more job. Given the current economy, though undeniably risky, it’s hard to fathom why Wahlberg’s character would knock so lucrative a career. It’s not long, though, before he’s up to his old tricks, the greatest smuggler in the business doing his best to adapt to an ever-worsening situation where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, and then some. Between the endless double-crossing and life-or-death struggles, he certainly has his hands full.
Based on well-regarded Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, Contraband offers the occasional action highlight and as a smuggling procedural, teaches us everything we’d ever need to know should we be inspired to follow Wahlberg’s character into the business. Besides our Mark, supporting players of note include Kate Beckinsale as his concerned other half, Giovanni Ribisi as a drug-dealing scumbag and like-minded actor Ben Foster, here adding to his growing portfolio of two-faced bastards.
Edge-of-the-seat thrilling and interesting with it, Contraband is available to rent on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online from blockbuster.co.uk.
Quite the nicest film you’ll see all year, this sweet, emotional drama from Jerry Maguire auteur Cameron Crowe tells a tale of family healing, of fresh starts and taking chances. Based on the best-selling memoir by journalist Benjamin Mee, lengthily titled We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed a Family Forever, it follows struggling widower Ben (Matt Damon), who, in a bid to revitalise his grieving family, impulse-buys a home in the country.
The twist is, as the book’s title plainly reveals, it’s a home that comes complete with a dilapidated zoo packed with demanding birds, beasts and a handful of eccentric human employees. In a phrase, it’s a fixer upper, and if it’s ever going to re-open, it’ll take a mountain of cash, a Herculean degree of physical effort and more emotional healing than you’d find in an entire season of Oprah. Co-starring Scarlett Johansson as a hot zookeeper and Thomas Haden Church as Ben’s more realistic and responsible older brother, this is an uncommonly good-natured and shameless emotional must see experience. Buy or rent it now, on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online from blockbuster.co.uk.
A blatant propaganda actioner and kick ass recruitment exercise funded by the US Navy, Act of Valour tells a morally black-and-white tale of noble Navy Seals battling child-incinerating terrorists. Starring genuine Navy Seals and based on ‘real acts of valour’, it’s all action stuff that plays like a feature-length episode of 24 with an unintentional dash of Team America: World Police. Authentic and explosive, you can buy or rent this now, on Blu-ray and DVD, in store and online from blockbuster.co.uk. As you can our last two hits of the week…
A smorgasbord of scares and jumps with exorcisms to spare, The Devil Inside is a chilling treat for freak-out fans, an Italian-set shocker to watch from behind your sofa… Finally this week, Eddie Murphy plays an inveterate liar forced to change his ways in likeable high-concept comedy A Thousand Words, a sound choice for Murphy fans and indeed for anyone hunting for light, easy laughs.
