The latest DVD releases

THE DEVIL'S CHILD****

Directed by George Ratliff. Starring Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Jacob Kogan, Dallas Roberts, Michael McKean 15 cert

Titled Joshuawhen it opened in the US and undeservedly passed over for cinema release here, this is a clever contemporary blending of horror movie and psychological thriller. The focus is on an exceptionally bright nine-year-old student and piano prodigy, Joshua (Kogan), whose behaviour turns sinister after his affluent parents (Rockwell and Farmiga) have their second child.

Clearly as talented as the boy he plays, Kogan demonstrates formidable screen presence, heightening the tension as Joshua plots one deviously unpredictable scheme after another. The mood progressively darkens and the mother and father become increasingly frazzled in Ratliff's effectively low-key and atmospheric exposition of a thoroughly creepy tale that may well prove too hard to take for the parents of young children. MICHAEL DWYER

CHANGELING★★★★★
Directed by Clint Eastwood.  Starring Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Amy Ryan 18 cert

Eastwood's masterly, factually based drama features Jolie in a memorably expressive portrayal of a single mother on an obsessive quest to find her young son after he disappears in 1928 Los Angeles. The exceptional screenplay diverges in unexpected directions to address a range of
themes, some deeply unsettling and still pertinent today. MD

QUANTUM OF SOLACE ★★
Directed by Marc Forster. Starring Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright 12 cert

There are, as there ought to be, a number of arresting action sequences in the entertaining but
below-average new 007 adventure, a sequel to the far superior Casino Royale. The crucial problem lies with the clumsy, unimaginative storyline strung together as a link between those set-pieces. MD

THE DUCHESS ★★★
Directed by Saul Dibb. Starring Keira Knightley, Hayley Atwell, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling 15 cert

Attractive, well-acted drama following the early life of the Georgian socialite and political manipulator Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. The parallels with Princess Diana's story are desperately laboured, but Knightley is impressively solid as the protagonist and Fiennes is brilliantly ghastly as her dreary husband. DC

BODY OF LIES ★★
Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, Oscar Isaac 15 cert

Deeply muddled spy thriller starring DiCaprio as a CIA man tasked with flushing out a Jihadist
leader in a noisy corner of the Middle East. Being a Ridley Scott picture, Body of Lies does feature
the odd thrilling action sequence. These do not, however, distract from the rickety plot and unsure
performances. The DVD comes with a digital copy . DC

QUARANTINE ★★★
Directed by John Erick Dowdle. Starring Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Columbus Short, Greg Germann 18 cert

In this low-budget, resourcefully made horror-thriller, a TV reporter (Dexter star Carpenter) and her
cameraman (Steve Harris) are trapped inside an apartment building where residents are
viciously attacked. Be prepared for
some gruesome imagery. MD

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE RAIN/ PARLEZ-MOI DE LA PLUIE
★★★★
Directed by Agnès Jaoui. Starring Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jamel Debbouze, Agnès Jaoui 15 cert
Writer-director Jaoui plays a feminist author and political candidate who becomes the subject of an incompetently made documentary in this perceptive and seductive serious comedy charting the personal and professional problems of interlinked characters during a wet summer in Avignon. MD