Review went to a book launch last week with Total Film, at the fifth floor bar in Waterstones on Piccadilly. We don’t normally get invited to high-society shindigs like this, and have only just recovered from the combination of unlimited free booze and the starstruck confusion of being in the same room as legends such as Stephen Frears, Nicolas Roeg and Floella Benjamin. (Little Ted was presumably elsewhere, getting stuck into the canapés.)

Anyway, the book in question was Margot’s Secrets, the debut mystery novel of film producer Don Boyd (Scum, The Last Of England, War Requiem) – and a pleasant chap he was too, regaling us with gently humourous anecdotes and bon mots as we munched our breadsticks and tried not to knock an entire tray of champagne glasses out of a waiter’s hands. (We failed.)

Annoyingly, Frears and Roeg had left the party by the time the PRs got round to the introductions, but we did have a brief chat with Terence Davies, the criminally ignored and underfunded director of Time And The City and The Long Day Closes. From what we could make out from the 30 minutes of rambling party noise on the dictaphone, he’s currently working on a dark thriller – quite a departure for his usual social-realist lyricism – adapted from someone’s novel (not Boyd’s), which will star someone called “Zack” (Efron?!) and a couple of Canadians. We also bumped into Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam, who told us he was making a similar film to do with gangs and that, but set in London not Brighton, which he’s self-financing.

You heard it here first, unless you were there too!

• Champagne consumed: 5 glasses

• Canapes eaten: 12

• Directors talked to: 2

• Trays knocked over: 1

• Play School presenters bumped into: 1

Review got to go to the UK premiere of Invictus, Clint Eastwood’s new Nelson Mandela/rugby movie, on Sunday. We were sitting three rows from the front, close enough to see the weird mole on Clint’s upper lip and Morgan Freeman’s wonky teeth. Although, judging by the picture quality below, our hands must have been shaking from the sheer excitement of being in such close proximity to not none, not one but TWO living legends of the silver screen. And Matt Damon (who is actually rather sweet in real life).

(l to r: Used to drive Jessica Tandy around in a car; Doesn’t like people laughing at his mule/being on his lawn; Warner Bros executive android #5748/b; MAAAAAT DAAAY-MONN)

Later on Review got cornered by some flaky space cadet outside a bar, who wouldn’t leave us alone until she’d expounded her highly detailed theories about how Every Which Way But Loose was a veiled endorsement of suicide, and that large orange monkey Clyde was the representation of Clint Eastwood’s unthinking, rage-filled superego. Unfortunately the press conference ran out of time before we got the chance to ask him to confirm or deny this.

In classic '80s horror flick An American Werewolf in London there's a fearful scene shot in Tottenham Court Road tube station. Being avid DVD & Blu-ray review readers you'll want to recreate that scene so here's a few pointers for you:
First recruit a hirsute friend to play the werewolf as you will take on the role of the doomed commuter.
Now make your way to the North-bound Northern line platform. In the film, the werewolf is lurking in the tunnel but Transport for London may not appreciate this attention to detail. We suggest you just conceal yourself behind the vandalized vending machine.
Also in the film, the victim is the only person that gets off the tube and is subsequently alone on the platform. Waiting for this scenario could take some time, probably best to just get on with it. Also, the average commuter will have seen much weirder things than your mate growling on all fours.
Now chase each other around for a bit and finally collapse on the escalator prior to being savaged. Be sure to keep to the right-hand side though so others can pass.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The special edition DVD of this Academy Award winning film includes a Making of extra narrated by Michael Douglas. His father Kirk fell in love with the book, bought the rights and had the book transformed into a play. The play wasn't a great success, only running for 5 months but years later Michael got his chance to produce the film. The casting of RP McMurphy saw offers turned down by Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando and even Burt Reynolds before Jack Nicholson accepted the challenge.  

A very merry Disc-mas and a Happy New Year to all our readers! We have had our annual Chrimbo photo taken: here you see us in the Future Publishing Offices working hard drawing the magazine. It's a little clunky perhaps, but every issue of DVD & Blu-ray Review is created by etch-a-sketch...

The extras in this edition feature an interview with Ron Kovic himself. Still an ardent anti-war activist in a country that seems to be forever at War, Kovic speaks with great dignity about coming to terms with his disability and the importance of never giving up on world peace. Take note Mr Obama!

Meet the DVD & Blu-ray Review Team!

From left to right, Emma, Mike, Rosie, Dan, Patrick, Ali.

Here we are being all serious. Further less serious, more comedy pictures will be appearing in future issues of DVD & Blu-ray Review.

We thought we might start a band - jury's still out on our band name suggestions over at the forum please. You've got me (Rosie) and Emma on keyboards, Mike's the drummer, Patrick on bass, Ali lead guitar and Dan on vocals. We're clearly going to 'Rawk'. In an indie sort of way.

This is a compelling documentary about the mechanics of a capitalist society and it offers an insight into the abuses that arise from the relentless pursuit of profit. The point is not that individual companies pollute the environment or exploit workers, but that a corporate life-style itself is flawed. Extras include unseen interview clips with Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore.   

Further to yesterday's post, seems like home-made Iron Man was indeed out and about in London. But true to form he ended up down the pub and never made it over to see us, the swine. We're going to seriously think hard next time he tells us he loves us and tries to talk us into forming a band...

Anyway, our buddies over at totalfilm.com got the full news of Iron Man's origins and antics, you can check it out here.

Disney is promoting this rather lovely Jack Skellington bust with the 2 disc collector's edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's much bigger than it looks in this picture (it's about as big as a breadbin), it's hand-painted, it's wicked cool and apparently there's only about 1000 of them made. It's also kind of expensive at about £118....

So Patrick and Helen from Disney's press office came to visit us this morning, fully in the spirit of it. Bearing in mind journos are a notoriously grumpy, socially awkward bunch of people who spend much of their professional lives pissing on other people's chips we think it was very brave indeed of them to go all out. We are a nice team and we were not mean to them. Two thumbs good.

One of my favourite designers is Robert Brownjohn. He was a strikingly creative force in New York in the 50s and London in the 6os, perhaps best known for his opening title sequence’s of From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Projected moving images glide effortlessly over bikini-clad models, painted head to toe in gold. Ingenious typography combine with audacious imagery to produce opening Bond Film titles that for me have never been bettered. The last Bond film, Casino Royale, opted for animation in the opening titles and fell woefully short of Brownjohn’s benchmark. The next Bond, Quantum of Solace is imminent. I am eager to see it and I hope that the opening titles deliver once again.    

Check this out - X-Men III DVD on the shopping channel. If you were at all unsure about whether to buy into this whole 'DVD' or 'Home Entertainment' thing, this lady will tell you exactly what it's all about. You don't have to wait in line, you don't have to fight traffic, you can see deleted scenes... it's a whole new world.

Yes, it's Friday again and the team unwind with some frivolous antics as they strive to win 'Double Money' in the Vernon Kay interactive Family Fortunes DVD game. Les Dennis he ain't!



Some of the questions:
Name something that comes in through the window?
Name a place where you would sit next to a stranger?
Name a country that starts with the letter 'A'?

Look how much fun we're having...