Geoff Cox’s guide to new DVD releases (24.08.11)

WITH social networking sites becoming more prevalent, films surrounding them have increased.

We all know about Oscar-winning The Social Network and while it’s not quite in the same league, TRUST (15: Lionsgate) is worth following.

It’s directed by former Friends star David Schwimmer and despite a tendency towards melodrama, is one of the best of the genre so far.

Clive Owen and Catherine Keener play the parents of a typically sullen and introvert 14-year-old (a convincing performance by Liana Liberato).

Mum and dad are unaware that she has an online boyfriend – her first – who claims to be a high school hunk who’s only slightly older than her.

But when they meet surreptitiously down the local shopping mall, she discovers he isn’t.

Yet his flesh-crawling flattery is persuasive and as he’s attentive enough to turn the teen’s head, you just know it’s going to end in tears.

Trust is a thought-provoking film about online sexual predators and while it may not change your life, it may make you wonder what your child is up to on that computer and just who he or she is ‘talking’ to.

> The fourth instalment of the Scream franchise arrives after a 12-year break, but there’s little originality or daring.

Although characters in SCRE4M (15: Entertainment In Video) keep mentioning the trendy term “reboot”, it’s really just a rehash.

Neve Campbell’s regular survivor in these slasher movie parodies is now a boring adult on a tour to promote her self-help book.

This brings her back to suburban Woodsboro where Courtney Cox’s reporter and David Arquette’s sheriff still live.

As expected, a new generation of high schoolers get sucked into the latest killing spree by a Ghostface-masked psycho, the mystery of whose identity props up a repetitive plot.

The obligatory geeks, including Rory Culkin, provide commentary on recent genre developments, but despite more blood, coarser language and references to internet fame, it’s much the same as before.

> The late, great Pete Postlethwaite makes his final screen appearance in KILLING BONO (15: Paramount), an uneven adaptation of a best-selling memoir by music journalist Neil McCormick (played by Ben Barnes).

He and his brother struggled to launch a music career in the ‘80s while their school pal Paul Hewson renamed himself Bono and became one of pop’s true megastars.

Unfortunately, director Nick Hamm, working from a script co-written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, can’t decide whether he’s aiming for knockabout comedy or bitter-sweet reminiscence.

Robert Sheehan is likeable as the much put-upon younger brother, but Barnes (Prince Caspian in the Narnia series) is never able to make the aspiring rock star sympathetic, with his own ego continually frustrating the siblings’ ambitions.

Having said that, there are some laughs and warm moments to enjoy, including an amusing turn from Peter Serafinowicz as the band’s vexed manager and Postlethwaite’s role as the boys’ flamboyantly camp landlord.

> I nominate SOMETHING BORROWED (12: Entertainment In Video) for an award – the world’s worst romantic comedy.

Even if you don’t agree, it must come perilously close.

Self-absorbed extrovert Darcy (Kate Hudson) and ‘nice girl’ introvert Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) have been best friends since childhood.

For years, Rachel has secretly had the hots for mutual friend Dex (Colin Egglesfield, who’s alarmingly a dead-ringer for a young Tom Cruise).

But it’s Darcy who’s about to take Dex up the aisle, despite the fact that the hapless hunk has feelings for Rachel.

Awkward, very predictable situations then ensue in director Luke Greenfield’s first feature since 2004’s The Girl Next Door.

With a running time of 112 minutes, it’s an overlong piece of nonsense that’s totally lacking in charm.

>BAFTA-nominated I AM SLAVE (15: High Fliers) is a powerful thriller about the brutality of the modern day slave trade and one woman’s fight to escape from it.

A film of jolting accuracy and real emotional clout, it’s based on the real-life experiences of young African girl Mende Nazer.

Twelve-year-old Malia is snatched from her father during a Muharaleen raid on their Sudanese village and sold into slavery to a woman in Khartoum.

After six years she is sent to London where her name is changed, her passport is removed and she’s living in fear of what might happen to her family if she tries to seek help.

> As you would expect from Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, there’s some great acting in Golden Globe-nominated drama THE GREAT DEBATERS (15: High Fliers), inspired by the true story of a temperamental coach who moulded the students of a small Texas college into one of the most formidable debating teams in the United States.

Related topics: