Week of 19 September
DVD: Mandelson: The real PM? ?? (Stars Peter Mandelson, Hannah Rothschild; £19.99; UK cert E; 75 mins) Mandelson: The real PM? focuses on former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson’s involvement in Labour’s unsuccessful 2010 election campaign, and his general political career. Director Hannah Rothschild has managed to get unprecedented access to Mandelson, but unfortunately the film is quite tame in its inquisition of his character, as much of the documentary is made up of interviews with Mandelson himself on various modes of transport, and fly on the wall access to policy meetings. It feels like Mandelson is in control of the situation throughout and in some occurrences it almost feels staged, as though the whole film is one massive photo opportunity. The film even uses the acronym ‘PM’ to represent Mandelson in a clever but eye rolling tie-in with the film’s title. It’s an interesting documentary, if nothing else because of the unique view it gives of British politics during such a historically significant period, but it’s far too sympathetic and refuses to ask the difficult questions, leaving this feeling like something of a damp squib in the end. Extras: Just six deleted scenes: Extended ending, Grand day out, Tory bashing, Manifesto black hole, Political masterclass, & Journalists' occupational hazard. — Tom Mimnagh
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Week of 5 September
BLU-RAY: Kind Hearts and Coronets ???? (Stars Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Hugh Griffith; £19.99; UK cert U; 80 mins) One of the great Ealing comedies, Kind Hearts and Coronets has been restored and spruced up for its Blu-ray release. It's one of legendary director John Landis's favourite films – there's a special introduction from him on the disc – and it's aged incredibly well, still as funny now as the day it was released. The plot is pretty simple: Louis Mazzini (Price) is in prison, the night before his execution for murder. He's writing his memoirs, and how he ended up in front of the hangman is told in flashback. It's a blackly comic tale of murder, deceit and the ridiculousness of the British class system. Impoverished Mazzini is a distant heir to the Duke of D'Ascoyne, and he's keen to get his hands on the title ... by killing the eight people in front of him. The clever twist here is that all eight of the family members are played by Guinness, in an acting tour de force. A true classic, not to be missed. Extras: An audio commentary with Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw, Terence Davies & Matthew Guinness; an introduction from John Landis; the featurette Dennis Price: Those British Faces; a BBC Radio 3 essay; an alternative American ending; a restoration comparison; a Behind the Scenes featurette; a stills gallery; an excerpt from a BECTU interview with Douglas Slocombe; the theatrical trailer. — Stuart O'Connor
BLU-RAY: Cobra ???? (Stars Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson, Brian Thompson £19.99; UK cert 18; 87 mins) "You're a disease, and I'm the cure." There's something about the acton films of the 80s that the movies of today lack. Modern action flicks are too polished, full of CGI mayhem, clunky dialogue and massive plot holes (hello, Michael Bay). And the action stars of today can't hold a candle to the likes of Willis, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and Stallone. Witness Cobra, the Sly classic from 1986, in which he plays a Dirty Harry-style take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of a serial killer. Stallone is Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, a loose cannon who drives his superiors insane, but gets results where they count. Yes, he's a cliche in tight jeans and dark glasses with plenty of one-liners up his sleeve and a machine gun on his hip. The killer is called The Night Slasher, and Cobra is the only cop who thinks that the killings are not the work of a single person, but a gang of psycopaths. And only Rambo with a badge can stop them. Starring alongside his then-wife, the pneumatic Nielsen, Cobra is silly, violent, corny, stykish and kitschy fun with Stallone at his gun-toting best. Extras: An audio commentary with director George P Cosmatos (who also made Rambo: First Blood Part II with Sly); a short (7:50) making-of featurette; and the theatrical trailer. — Stuart O'Connor