DVD: New releases

Watchmen (18)

In an alternate vision of the mid-1980s, Nixon is clinging onto power in the White House and costumed heroes are part of the fabric of society. Many years after the so-called Minutemen watched over humanity, a new team of heroes has taken up the mantle. The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the last of the old guard still standing and he is joined by, among others, Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson). When one of the team is murdered the remaining members unravel layers of mystery shrouding the crime. Bloody and violent from the outset but the pacing is pedestrian.

3/5

DAMON SMITH

Duplicity (12)

CIA officer Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and MI6 agent Ray Koval (Clive Owen) leave behind government intelligence to seek an easier and far more profitable future in big business. Working for rival multinationals they find themselves chasing proof of the same wonder product. The former agents double and triple-cross, using every trick in the book but the former spies soon realise that all of their training cannot immunise them to mutual attraction, which frequently leads to the bedroom. Frothy entertainment in a similar vein to Ocean's Eleven and its sequels.

3/5

DAMON SMITH

Father Dear Father: The Complete 5th Series (U)

Hugely popular in it's early 70s heyday but even the mists of nostalgia can't obscure the shortcomings of this sitcom. Patrick Cargill starred as the titular patriarch, mugging his way shamelessly through feeble plots strewn with Christmas cracker jokes, laboured farce and painfully poor pratfalls. Less than fifteen minutes into the series and already a comedy vicar is a-tinkling at the doorbell, adding to the matrimonial contretemps that forms the basis of the episode. With a couple of groovy teenage daughters, their well-meaning but dotty nanny, a saintly ex-wife and H.G. the slobbering St Bernard in the offing, all manner of eyebrow-raising mayhem ensues. In fact the only ITV sitcom regular missing is surely Richard O'Sullivan. But wait! Who's that in episode 3? No, it can't be...

2/5

STEVE JAMES

Chart

1 (-) The Young Victoria

2 (1) Marley & Me

3 (-) Hotel For Dogs

4 (8) Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

5 (-) Harry Potter – Years 1-5

6 (2) Gran Torino

7 (-) Torchwood – Children Of The Earth

8 (-) Moonwalker

9 (7) Ice Age/Ice Age 2 – The Meltdown

10 (-) Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Chart supplied by hmv.com.