Blu-ray

Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1982 prehistoric yarn may get a little tiresome thanks to its non-stop arm-waving and grunting (courtesy of a 'special language' created by Anthony Burgess), but this Blu-ray's appealing AVC 2.35:1 1080p encode certainly gets the best from the film's exotic scenery. Audio comes in LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD MA 5.0 flavours, both of which sound fine – although the surround remix is a touch forced at times. A pair of fun commentaries headline the strong batch of extras that also includes a 33-minute interview with the director, a 25-minute Making of... and 48-minutes' worth of 'video galleries' (behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards, artwork and more) accompanied by yet more commentary from the director.

Brian De Palma has always been something of a Marmite filmmaker, but even his most ardent fans had little kind to say about this 1992 thriller upon its original release. John Lithgow takes centre stage as Carter Nix, a respected child psychologist who secretly suffers from a multiple personality disorder and spends his spare time kidnapping kids and offing their mothers. Meanwhile, his wife Jenny (Lolita Davidovich) is rekindling a romance with a former lover (Steven Bauer). Clearly things are not going to end well for someone.

There’s a world of difference between an ‘adult cartoon’ and a ‘cartoon for adults’. Director/co-writer Gore Verbinski’s Rango is a superb example of the latter – a cartoon aimed at an adult audience who will understand its in-jokes and satirical approach to the Western genre, but one that can still be enjoyed by folk of all ages. Playing out for large parts like a reworking of Once Upon a Time in the West enacted by anthropomorphised animals, the film stars Johnny Depp as the titular would-be gunslinger, a pampered pet chameleon lost in the wild, whose lies lead to him becoming sheriff of a town called Dirt. 

The 1980s were a particularly exciting time for horror fans. Filmmakers constantly tried to outdo each other by pushing harder and harder at the boundaries of good taste. Yet outside of the gallons of gore being unleashed on screen many of the movies contained little else of note. Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator was another matter altogether…

RED stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich as a quartet of retired CIA agents who are forced to go on the run and fight for their lives when they’re targeted for termination by the organisation they used to work for. Based on a little-known comic book miniseries, this light-hearted action comedy coasts by on the chummy chemistry of its aging stars and the sheer pleasure you’ll find in watching a ‘classic’ actress like Helen Mirren whip out a machine gun and start blasting away at the baddies. So, while it’s far from perfect, RED knows exactly what it’s doing and in its curious, ambling way, delivers plenty of chuckles and some cracking action along the way.

There is undoubtedly a great film to be made about the story of the Tuskagee Airmen, but this George Lucas-produced effort isn't it. While the lavish visual effects allow the aerial dogfights to soar to exciting heights, the hackneyed plotting and inane dialogue ensure that the rest of the movie remains grounded. There are a few positives to note about this Blu-ray, such as the pin-sharp AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode and bombastic DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio. The real highlight though is a 67min documentary telling the true story of the Tuskagee Airmen, which is far more effective than the film itself.

Only Paul W.S Anderson could ever dream of giving us a car chase through the streets of Moscow that features zombies on motorbikes firing machine guns. But that's just one of the many brilliantly daft action treats he has in store in this fifth outing in the popular videogame spin-off.