THREE TO SEE
Missed it at the cinema or on TV? We round up the best streaming and DVD releases of the week
PAVAROTTI (12)
NEAR the beginning of Ron Howard’s documentary, which incorporates footage from concerts and interviews to recount Luciano Pavarotti’s journey in his own words, the ebullient Italian tenor is asked to imagine his legacy. “I’d like to be remembered as a man who took opera to the people,” he replies modestly, flashing the camera a pensive smile. There are plenty of reasons to grin at Howard’s affectionate portrait of the flawed musical genius, which loudly celebrate the qualities that elevated a baker’s son from Modena to superstardom and worldwide record sales in excess of 100 million.
■ Available to stream/download from November 15 and from November 25 on DVD/Blu-ray.
HORRIBLE HISTORIES: THE MOVIE – ROTTEN ROMANS (U)
BASED on the children’s book series, Rotten Romans gallops through 1st-century betrayal and bloodshed with vim and a mischievous schoolboy grin. In 54 AD, Roman teenager Atti (Sebastian Croft) earns gold coins by passing off a vial of horse urine as precious gladiators’ perspiration. When Nero (Craig Roberts) receives the bottle as a gift, he sends Atti to Britain as punishment. Far from home, the lad meets feisty Celt teenager Orla (Emilia Jones), whose tribe are part of a rebellion against the Roman Empire. Atti and Orla work together in a bid to send the Romans back home.
■ Available to stream/download from November 18 and from November 25 on DVD/Blu-ray.
THE DEAD DON’T DIE (15)
COMEDY, which commits half-heartedly to the gore-slathered demands of a zombie horror. Fracking at the magnetic poles shifts the Earth off its axis. In the town of Centerville, police chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and officers Ronald Peterson (Adam Driver) and Minerva Morrison (Chloe Sevigny) respond to an attack at the local diner. Nearby, undertaker Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) practises her samurai sword skills. When night falls, corpses reanimate and residents including Hank Thompson (Danny Glover) and farmer Frank Miller (Steve Buscemi) arm themselves against the slavering predators.
■ Available to stream/download now and from November 18 on DVD/Blu-ray.