The Break-Up
2006, 15, Universal £19.99
Half a decent romantic comedy, namely, the half with Vince Vaughn, who provides an acerbic antidote to the cinematic black hole that is Jennifer Aniston. As Brooke and Gary, ex-lovers still sharing the same apartment, Vince and Jen embark upon a war of gender attrition; he gets a pool table and throws strip-poker parties; she dates other guys and (bizarrely) gets a 'Telly' down below. Vaughn's long-time compadre Jon Favreau provides a few chuckles as the barman who believes in the healing power of violence. Extras include a Vaughn-Aniston commentary track, fuelling the carefully manufactured 'are they?/aren't they?' press reports.
MK
King Kong Extended Edition
2005-6, 12, Universal £24.99
As promised (or should that be 'threatened'?), Peter Jackson's already lengthy Kong remake resurfaces with additional footage. Thankfully, the new material amounts to no more than 13 minutes, with the most significant insertion being a raft sequence which adds action, if little else. This three-disc set also includes around 40 minutes of (wisely) deleted scenes, along with behind-the-scenes featurettes detailing the minutiae of the production. Highlights include Jackson's commentary track, more on Andy Serkis's work as the heart and soul of the beast, and details of Jackson's futile 1996 Kong project, including video galleries and DVD-Rom script.
MK
Celine and Julie Go Boating
1974, 12, BFI £18.99
Jacques Rivette's playful, endlessly allusive 192-minute movie, one of the most extraordinary products of the French New Wave, is a phantasmagoria. Sensible Parisian librarian Julie (Dominique Labourier) meets fantasising magician Celine (Juliet Berto), they go into a Carrollian rabbit-hole or an Alician looking-glass and, in an alternative Paris, enter a film within a film based on two Henry James stories. This labyrinthine movie about the experience of moviemaking and movie-going, illusion and reality, may bore you to extinction or excite you to distraction - it will not leave you indifferent. The title refers to a French term for suspension of disbelief. The two-disc set includes an introduction by Jonathan Romney. The film is issued alongside Rivette's debut, the conspiracy flick Paris nous appartient (1961, 12, BFI £19.99), years in the making and a cult movie from the day of release.
Philip French
