Madman May DVD Releases

Warm on up ladies and gentlemen, for it is May..... And a brilliant time to be tucked up inside with some marvellous treats for winter.

Brighton Rock

From the producer of Atonement and Eastern Promises, Brighton Rock is a stylish and razor-sharp adaptation of Graham Greene's 1938 novel, starring Academy Award ®-winner Helen Mirren, John Hurt and rising stars Sam Riley (Control, On The Road) and BAFTA-nominee Andrea Riseborough (Made in Dagenham and Never Let Me Go).

Brighton, 1964. Organised crime has moved into this sleepy English seaside town. Ambitious young gangster Pinkie Brown (Sam Riley) is determined to stop other gangs taking over his patch, but when he kills a rival, vital evidence falls into the innocent hands of a young impressionable waitress, Rose (Andrea Riseborough).

This is a must see.

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For the ladies this month, Madman has three lovely titles for you to win.

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet. Filmed over the course of one year, La Danse documents the daily goings-on at the world’s most prestigious ballet company, The Paris Opera Ballet. From the mundanity of board meetings to the majesty of performance, director Frederick Wiseman leaves no aspect of the company undocumented in his all-encompassing peek behind the concert hall’s velvet curtain. Incorporating preparations for and performances of seven ballets including Orpheus and Eurydice by Pina Bausch, Angelin Preljocaj’s Medea and The Nutcracker, as envisioned by Rudolf Nureyev, all captured in the purely observational cinema vérité style.

As much a joyful ode to the beauty of the dance medium as it is a documentation of the entire company’s unflappable work ethic, La Danse is a spectacular and moving hymn to a glorious art form.

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Wish to escape? Well Madman has this terrific option......

Escape to River Cottage. A unique and fascinating insight into country life.

We live in a busy world, overflowing with microwave-ready meals, day to day challenges and pollution. But Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall’s dream of escaping the city sprawl with all its stresses and downshifting into rural Dorset is finally realised with he arrives at River Cottage. His yearlong experiment, living off the fat of the land and the sweat of his brow, involves a steep learining curve..... And a lot of fun! Enjoy the fun alongside him with your very own copy, simply.... to win.

And it doesn’t stop there for you or Hugh. We have Return to River Cottage.  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall shares more advice from his new-found country life at River Cottage.

In an attempt to generate some cash, Hugh rents the field over the river, installs a poly-tunnel to grow vegetables and buys a cow and sheep to join his pigs and chickens. But his aim of self-sufficiency is knocked when his hay crop is devastated by rain and the tomatoes in the poly-tunnel are threatened by blight. But ingenuity is his touchstone as he finds other ways to raise the cash by turning bunnies into burgers!

Interesting to say the least...

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We are sure the gents will be most interested in those last two titles as well... But we have sorted them out something special for them this month.

60 million people died during World War II. Cliff Carpenter, Australian airman, was one of them. A Very Short War is a deeply personal story – one that resonates with every single name found chiselled into the memorial monuments scattered throughout the world’s cities and country towns.

It revolves around the short life of Jack Clifford (Cliff) Carpenter, a pioneer Australian aviator – a man who designed and built his first aeroplane as a teenager and sadly lost his life at the age of 28 in the darkening skies over Norway on the day of the German invasion. He left behind a grieving mother and father, a brother, two sisters and an enduring family legacy.

Through his letters home we are exposed to a fascinating and intriguing insight into the spirit of the times as World War 2 beckoned. A Very Short War is not the story of a hero, yet it is truly heroic. It is a heartening story of great loss as it follows the quest by the nephew Cliff never knew to unravel the truth behind the ultimate sacrifice made in a lonely place far from home.

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Have you heard of Ewan McGregor?

Well Ewan McGregor and his R.A.F. pilot brother, Colin, commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

There are few occasions in history when we can say that the actions of a few changed the destiny – not just of a country - but of the world. The Battle of Britain is one of those moments.

To mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, arguably the most important event in modern British history, brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor present a ninety minute special leading us through the timeline of events during the height of the Battle.

Colin is an R.A.F veteran of twenty years' service - Ewan a hero of the big screen and fledgling pilot himself. Together they take us on a journey to honour the heroes of 1940 both on the ground and in the air, bringing the story of the Battle of Britain to a new generation. They will take to the skies over Southern England as Spitfires and Hurricanes once again fly over the White Cliffs of Dover. They discover the legacy of the Battle and reveal the inspiring personal stories of the few who were there and those still with us today.

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The First Light - The dramatic story of the youngest Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain.

Geoffrey Wellum was just 18 when he was thrown into combat as a fighter pilot at the beginning of the terrifying air war of the Battle of Britain. Now seventy years on and aged 89, he is still haunted by the conflict that almost destroyed him.

Based on Geoffrey's personal and deeply moving memoirs, First Light is an intimate drama-documentary that delivers a compelling testimony of his wartime experiences. It is the story of a boy who went to war, and who came back a broken man.

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We love National Geographic! Who doesn’t like learning new things! Its goodness for the whole family.

National Geographic: Tales from the Tomb. Four amazing stories from Egyptian Antiquity. It is a world shrouded in mystery. The tombs of the ancient Egyptians were thought to be portals that would carry their inhabitants to a glorious afterlife. In modern times, these burial chambers reveal fascinating stories of the rulers of ancient Egypt.

National Geographic: The Obama White House: Through the Lens. Follow the man who follows the President. Pete Souza is never far behind the President – Obama - sometimes he is ahead of him. As the White House’s chief photographer, Souza is the President shadow. Follow Souza inside the Obama White House – aboard Air Force One, backstage at the State of the Union, and into the heart of the West Wing. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the American presidency and a chance to see what it’s like to cover the most powerful man in the world.


 

Published 27th Apr 2011

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