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DVDS AND DOWNLOADS
The Gentlemen (Cert 18)
Available from April 27 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/ TalkTalk TV Store and from April 27 on DVD £19.99 Odious private detective Fletcher demands a hefty £20 million pay-off for incriminating photographs of American ex-pat Mickey Pearson, who has built a lucrative marijuana empire in London aided by righthand man Raymond. Mickey is poised to sell the business to slippery American counterpart Matthew Berger, and share the spoils with his straightshooting wife Rosalind. Unfortunately, trigger-happy rival Dry Eye intends to scupper the deal, lighting a fuse on a bloodthirsty turf war that will make lipsmacking headlines for sleazy tabloid Daily Print edited by Big Dave.
The Gentlemen is a slickly orchestrated caper, which restores writer-director Guy Ritchie to the crime-riddled streets of London. The dodgy geezers and expletive-laden doubledealing of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, which saddled the filmmaker as a one-trick pony more than 20 years ago, are enthusiastically rehashed and recycled.
Jojo Rabbit (Cert 12)
Available from April 27 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/ TalkTalk TV Store and from May 11 on DVD £15.99
Ten-year-old Johannes Betzler lives in Nazi Germany with his mother. The youngster is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth and undergoes training with best friend Yorki at a camp run by Captain Klenzendorf, his second-incommand Finkel and Fraulein Rahm. Returning home one day, Jojo discovers a Jewish girl called Elsa Korr hiding in a crawl space adjoining the bedroom of his late sister. The boy intends to notify authorities but Elsa points out that Jojo’s mother would be executed for harbouring a Jew. Jojo turns to his imaginary best friend, Adolf Hitler, to decide the best course of action. Adapted from Christine Leunens’s novel Caging Skies, Jojo Rabbit is a daring comedy drama, which navigates some tricky and delicate changes in pacing and tone including an unexpected sucker punch to convey one character’s fate. Londonborn actor Davis beautifully captures the naivete of an impressionable tyke on a challenging and morally complex journey of selfdiscovery. New Zealand writer, director and star Taika Waititi confidently walks a tightrope between heartbreak and hilarity, employing his quirky brand of humour to witness the rise of fascism and its devastating consequences.
Escape From Pretoria (Cert 12)
Available now on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/ iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and from April 27 on DVD £17.99.
Based on Tim Jenkin’s biography, Escape From Pretoria dramatises an incredible true story of imprisonment and rebellion in Apartheid-era South
Africa. Daniel Radcliffe plays Jenkin, a fervent activist with the African National Congress (ANC), which is banned in South Africa during the era. He is arrested as a terrorist and incarcerated in the maximum-security prison. Tim forges close ties with fellow freedom fighters Stephen Lee and Leonard Fontaine. During 18 months behind bars, Tim hatches an escape plan using handcrafted wooden keys as he and his co- conspirators prepare to unlock their futures.
What’s the story?
Extraction.
Let me guess. A docu-series about dentists?
Nope. Although I would watch that. Extraction is a new Netflix thriller starring Chris Hemsworth as “a fearless black-market mercenary” who must rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian drug baron. Definitely one for fans of the shoot-em-up genre.
Blimey. Remind me which Chris he is again?
The Australian actor best known for playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including most recently Avengers: Endgame.
Not the Outlaw King guy?
That’s Chris Pine. Then there’s Chris Pratt of Parks and Recreation fame and Chris Evans, whose roles include Knives Out, but also, confusingly, shares the name of the well-known radio DJ. Evans and Pratt starred alongside Hemsworth in Avengers: Endgame.
There’s a lot of actors called Chris.
Indeed. A Chris-fest. They are fast becoming the leading man equivalent of The Jennifers.
The Jennifers?
Aniston. Lawrence. Lopez. Jason Leigh. Love Hewitt. Garner. Hudson. The list goes on. Anyway, back to Extraction.
What else can you tell me?
There is a Marvel-alumni vibe among the film’s crew. Extraction is written by Joe Russo, who also co-produced it alongside brother Anthony, and directed by Sam Hargrave. It is streaming now on Netflix.
SUSAN SWARBRICK