Out in the UK this week
Ted (Universal, cert 15, Blu-ray/DVD)
Descending occasionally into Family Guy droning, Seth MacFarlaneās comedy about a guy (Mark Wahlberg) and his walking, talking, living teddy bear otherwise riffs rude and hilarious on popular culture ā hookers and hookahs to Diffārent Strokes and Ming the Merciless.
Magic Mike (Lionsgate, cert 15, Blu-ray/DVD)
Channing Tatum takes his clothes off. Recommendation enough, maybe, but Steven Soderberghās Boogie Nights-lite drama about male strippers also faintly deals with the objectification of the male body. And Matthew McConaughey takes his clothes off too.
The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony, cert 12, Blu-ray/DVD)
The special effects arenāt special and the āteenageā leads are 28 (Andrew Garfield) and 24 (Emma Stone) but thereās zip and heart in this deliberately low-key reboot of the webslinging, moneyspinning franchise.
The Amazing Spider-Man ā at Amazon
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Peccadillo, cert 12, DVD)
Shot like a 1950s B movie, this New York comedy features a spaceship that appears to be made from a burger box and a couple of standout scenes/brilliant one-liners that elevate it above mere camp spoofery.
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same ā at Amazon
In Your Hands (Artificial Eye, cert 15, Blu-ray/DVD)
Itās Kristin Scott Thomas, again playing a fragile, brittle woman, this time sheās a doctor in France kidnapped by some weirdo. Playing footsie with notions of āwhat women wantā, a thriller with performances that paper over the cracks.
Total Recall (Sony, cert 12, Blu-ray/DVD)
Etch-a-sketch remake of the 1990 sci-fi biggie in which Colin Farrell discovers he used to be a double agent called Arnold Schwarzenegger (or something). Enjoyable enough as a ācompare and contrastā exercise until the helicopters and insistent orchestra drown out the plot.
Brave (Disney, cert PG, Blu-ray/DVD)
Pixar goes Scotland with a story about a princess who accidentally turns her mother into a bear. If that sounds oddball, donāt get too excited ā thereās 20 minutes of cute Caledonian throat-clearing before the story jerks into life, and even then itās Pixarās rendering of light effects that really impresses.
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Ā© Steve Morrissey 2012