Madman February DVD Releases

Fresh in February. Madman is here to deliver the goods! First up is THE TRIP, and what a perfect time. Great food and company... well hmmmmmm.

THE TRIP. Two friends, one week, six restaurants and the journey of a lifetime.

After Steve (Steve Coogan - 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, TRISTRAM SHANDY) is commissioned by The Observer to review half a dozen restaurants, he decides to plan a trip around the North of England with his food-loving American girlfriend. But when she decides to leave him and return to the US, Steve is faced with a week of meals for one. Reluctantly, he calls Rob (Rob Brydon - GAVIN & STACEY, TRISTRAM SHANDY), the only person left he can think of who will be available on short notice.

Over the course of six meals at six different restaurants in and around the Lake District, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, the brilliant comic duo freestyle with flair, driving each other mad with constant competition, all the while riffing hilarious impressions of iconic actors including Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Al Pacino.

Directed by the award-winning Michael Winterbottom (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, TRISTRAM SHANDY), THE TRIP stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in a laugh-out-loud British comedy about the importance of friendship, fame and great food.

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And on the subject of food we have CHEF! - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

Beware sharp knives and even sharper tongues.

Meet Britain's finest - and most temperamental - chef: Gareth Blackstock, owner of the prestigious restaurant Le Chateau Anglais. Temperamental, tyrannical, arrogant, fastidious about his creations and prone to imaginative torrents of abuse, Gareth is prepared to let nothing, but nothing, interfere in his search for culinary perfection. And if others must suffer to meet that reasonable standard... well, just don't ask for salt! Tuck in for a gourmet blend of biting wit and kitchen chaos as Lenny Henry stars in all three series of the much-loved BBC comedy.

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We all love a good TV series here at Madman, and this one is a beauty HIM & HER: The Complete First Series.

Love as it really is... with farts, bickering and toast.

Steve and Becky are young, unemployed and lazy. All they want to do is eat, drink and have sex - so they do. They don't want to get a job - so they don't. They're happy to spend their days watching DVDs in Steve's bedsit, but they're constantly interrupted by Dan - the lonely bloke from upstairs, Laura and Paul - Becky's sister and her fiancé or, most frighteningly for Steve, Becky's parents.

Him & Her reveals the hilarious and often shocking truth of what really goes on behind the bedroom doors of today's 20-somethings. And, to be honest, today's 30-somethings. And 40-somethings. And 50-somethings. And 60- and 70- and 80-somethings... Because we all secretly wish we too were young, unemployed and lazy.

An anti-romantic comedy, Him & her lifts the lid on love as it really is - warts and all - with farts, bickering and toast.

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Straight into something very different, but equally excellent.

This feature film really is superb. ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN. In the slums of Rio, corruption is a way of life.

Captain Nascimento is commander-in-chief of Rio de Janeiro's Elite Squad, a special task force police militia tasked with the most difficult and dangerous cases. After a disastrous operation on a prison riot, Nascimento gets caught in a bloody political dispute that involves not only government officials but also a deadly militia. Dismantling the complex web of allegiances is a job made all the more dangerous by Nascimento's realisation that the very people that he should be able to rely on to support his mission could be his deadliest enemies.

Adding to this professional challenge are his troubles at home, as Nasciemento's ex-wife is now married to the newly elected State Representative. However, soon enough, his professional and personal life violently collide as he realises his work attracts danger to his family. Is it too late to save his loved ones as well as the city he has worked so hard to protect?

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Another great feature film of interest this month is THE ROUND UP. Paris, July 16, 1942.

1942. Joseph Weisman is 11 years old. On the morning of June 6, he must go to school with a yellow star stitched to his chest. The new anti-Jewish decree of the French government has come into force. Like all Jews in France, Jo learns that he is banned from parks, cinemas, fairgrounds and public gardens. Despite this, Jo and his family lead a happy life in Paris, until dawn on July 16, when this happiness is shattered. At 4am they are awakened by shouts and banging on doors as men in black uniforms burst into apartments. Jo and his family are hauled out of their beds and herded onto buses by French gendarmes.

13,000 Jews are crammed into the Winter Velodrome in Paris. This is the biggest round up in history and perpetrated by collaborating French police. The imprisoned Jews endure five days without water, food or healthcare. Dr Sheinbaum (Jean Reno) whom has been rounded up with all the others does what he can for the welfare of those around him. Annette Monod (Mélanie Laurent), a protestant Red Cross nurse, is appalled by the racism of her country’s government of collaborators and attempts to provide aid to the Jews as their ordeal continues.
 

Published 31st Jan 2012

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