This is one for motorbike fans if ever there was one, although it also attempts to sell the excitement of MotoGP to those who may not have thought about watching people on two-wheeled machines whizzing around a track. Director Mark Neale got exclusive access to both the races and drivers in 2010 and 2011, getting incredible footage both on the track and off.

While I have to admit I not really a petrol-head, Neale’s documentary is pretty absorbing and does a great job of showing what an exciting and potentially dangerous sport MotoGP can be. The drivers seem to spend half their time sliding across the tarmac and gravel when their bike falls for one reason or another, and it’s a miracle there are so few injuries.

While Ewan McGregor’s narration varies between the informative and annoyingly overblown (occasionally slipping into the ridiculous), the footage and stories speak for themselves. The main focus is Valentino Rossi, who’s undoubtedly one of the greatest motorbike racers ever, has seven world championships under his belt and is chasing after his eighth. However he’s getting old (for racing at least) and has to face upstart younger racers who start to sense that after years of Rossi dominating the sport, he may now have weaknesses, especially after a massive crash.

With interviews with Rossi and other drivers, as well as trips to the village Valentino grew up in, chats with experts and of course masses of on-track footage – much if it from innovative angles – it’s a surprisingly entertaining watch. There’s almost a defiance about it, with the filmmakers shouting at the audience, “Why aren’t more people watching this, it’s great!” That said, you are getting the highlights, and watching people going round and round the track for hours may not be as interesting as when it’s condensed down to a couple of hours, as it is here.

What Fastest also does a good job of is stripping off the leathers to look at the men on the bikes. You have to be slightly mental (or more charitably, daredevil-ish) to take up motorcycle racing, and the film questions what it is that keeps them going. It also shows the pressures they face, both from the expectations of fans, crowds and their team, as well as the more personal demons they face knowing that every race could bring serious injury or even death. As Fastest shows, it causes some people to completely break down and/or have to walk away from the sport.

On Blu-ray the picture quality is great, with bright, colourful images of the races (particularly showing off Valentino Rossi’s love of dayglo yellow), with little strobing and good clarity. Some of the older footage that spliced in of course isn’t as great, but everything shot specifically for this documentary is very good. Likewise the sound is immersive, really giving you a good sense of the roar of the engines.

The features are largely a selection of deleted scenes, featuring interviews and footage that didn’t make it to the final cut, and with much of it there’s good reason it was chopped out as it doesn’t add much.

Overall Verdict: Although it’s undoubtedly going to be of most interest to motorbike fans, Fastest is great advertisement for both the fast-paced sport itself, as well as the daredevil riders who race around the track at ridiculous speed.

Special Features:
Battle of the Brothers
Yellow
Lauren Vickers’ Guide to MotoGP™
Redneck Physics & Real Physics
Furusawa
Rossi and the M1
Rides for Health
Trailer

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Passport To Pimlico is an unexpectedly important movie in British film history, as along with Kind Hearts & Coronets and Whisky Galore – all of which were released by Ealing in 1949 – they set the template for much of the UK’s comedy output right up to the present day. In the film you can see early whispers of Carry On (not least the presence of Charles Hawtrey in a small role), a wink at the absurd that was later taken to its limit by the likes of Monty Python, and a quintessentially British attitude that’s still evident today, not least in the light, heartfelt comedy of Richard Curtis.

It’s a timeless film that is very time specific, as while it’s absolutely rooted in a very particular period just after the Second World War, it’s about ideas and a belief in the little guy that’s as easy to get behind today as it was when the film was made. In a small part of London’s Pimlico, an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated, uncovering a treasure trove of riches and a document which reveals that centuries ago, the area became part of Burgundy, and is therefore foreign territory.

At first this seems like a boon to the locals, as the fact they’re all now foreigners means they don’t have to abide by the privations of late 40s life, such as rationing. However the British Government soon begins to realise this, decides to set up border controls and eventually begins a blockade of the area. The Burgundians (which the residents come to be known as) don’t want to give up their newfound nation without a fair deal, but can they find a way to outlast the bullying authorities?

With a sweet story that has faith in a shared humanity, great performances by wonderful actors like Stanley Holloway, Hermione Baddeley and Margaret Rutherford, and a very witty script, Passport To Pimlico is a wonderful movie. Perhaps most interesting is that as well as being a funny, well written and paced film, it’s also a window into a very particular moment in British history (although as mentioned looking at it in timeless ways).

This is a world that’s still reeling from war, where residents live amongst bombed out houses and craters, where finding unexploded bombs is seen as unremarkable, and where everything people can and can’t buy is dictated by ration books. Although the little guy wanting to take control back from overbearing authority is a universal theme, in Passport To Pimlico you can really feel the frustration of the population. These are people who spent years willingly going without because they were told it would help win the war, and now several years after peace was declared, they’re still having to put up with major privations. They want a sense of victory and for normality to return to everyday life.

There’s also the major influence of the Berlin blockade, which was going on when Passport To Pimlico was being made and obviously inspired much of the movie. For around a year, the Soviet Union blocked road, railway and canal access to the parts of Berlin under allied control, in order to try take to control of the city (at least economically). In response the allies organised an airlift, which brought in over 200,000 planeloads of supplies to ensure those in the non-Soviet parts of Berlin didn’t come under communist control. It was actually a tad daring for Passport To Pimlico to equate the British Government’s authoritarian attitude with that of Soviet Russia, but it did it with such charm and belief in people power that it got away with it and was a major hit.

This newly restored version hits Blu-ray with a picture that’s been expertly cleaned to remove major blemishes and scratches that have built up over the years. There’s still a fair amount of grain, but that’s how it should be, as the black & white picture looks as it should, without the over-processed, slightly artificial cleanliness that happens when old movie are restored too harshly.

There are also a few decent extras, with Ealing expert Mark Duguid talking about where Passport To Pimlico sits in the British comedy pantheon and Richard Dacre taking us onto the London streets to show us where the film was made – which is now nondescript post-war residential blocks, but in 1948 an expertly constructed set. There’s also a before and after comparison showing the restoration of the film and a stills gallery.

Overall Verdict: A great film that’s still funny, sweet and charming, taking on timeless themes while giving us a sharp look at life just after World War II.

Special Features:
Interview With Mark Duguid
‘Locations’ Featurette With Richard Dacre
Behind The Scenes Stills Gallery
Restoration Comparison
Trailer

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Disney bought The Muppets back in 2004, realising that with their long-lasting popularity, they might be a good addition to the Disney universe. However since then the House Of Mouse hasn’t seemed entirely sure what to do with them. While they’ve tried several things over the years, the problem seems to have been Disney trying to shoehorn the characters into the way they deal with their other properties, rather than letting them be themselves.

It’s one of the reason The Muppets works so well, as it realises that Kermit & co. live in a netherworld between children’s and adult’s entertainment, where nostalgia is as important as silly jokes for kids. Likewise it acknowledges that part of the reason for the characters’ success is the fine line they walk between absurdity and realism, which works due to an absolute commitment to the idea Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear are real, while everything around them has a self-referential wink.

Jason Segel (who also co-wrote the script) is Gary, who’s now in his 30s but still sleeping in the same bedroom as his brother Walter. As part of the aforementioned touch of absurdity alongside a committed belief in The Muppets being real, Walter is a puppet, but this is never mentioned, and no one seems to find it odd that a real human would have a felt brother. Gary and Walter are inseparable, something that’s starting to get in the way of Gary’s relationship with Mary (Amy Adams), as she’d like him to put her first sometimes.

Walter is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a massive Muppet fan and is thrilled when Gary agrees to take him on a trip to LA, along with Mary, where they can visit the Muppet Studio. However when they get there, the studio is falling to bits, there are no Muppets to be seen, and worst of all, Walter overhears oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) planning to pull down the studio so he can drill underneath it. The only hope is to raise $10 million in the next few days.

This becomes the catalyst for a quest to reunite the Muppets – who are now spread across the world and haven’t worked together for years – and put on a telethon to in the hope of saving the theatre. However with Gary and Walter becoming ever more engrossed in their attempts to help the Muppets, Mary begins to feel that maybe she’ll never be able to compete.

While the plot is pretty clichéd, the film knows that and mainly uses it as a backdrop to allow The Muppets to do their thing. The story is there to inject a bit of heart into things, while the likes of Kermit, Miss Piggy and Gonzo bring their anarchic style back to the silver screen. With its silly sense of humour, self-knowing attitude (with numerous references to the fact it knows it’s a movie), it’s a movie that’s deliberately daft but a lot fun.

To be honest, for the first three-quarters of an hour, I was starting to feel a little let-down, as the set-up drags and feels a little meandering. However once it’s gotten that out of the way, the movie comes alive, particularly when we get into the Muppet theatre and the telethon begins. The last hour is joyous, with the perfect level of nostalgia for the original Muppet Show mixed with a realisation that 2012 is a rather different world. Indeed, you can tell that it’s this that Segel and co-writer Nicholas Stoller are most excited to recreate, making something that is both a misty-eyed look back at childhood memories, a recognition that the Muppets have been off our screens for years as well as trying to give things a modern sensibility.

It doesn’t work all the time, and indeed for my money, on-screen Jason Segel is the weak link. He looks like he’s having a whale of a time, but there’s just a touch too much of an OTT kid’s TV feel about his acting here. Muppets work best with performers who treat them as if they were normal people – just see Michael Caine in Muppets Christmas Carol and Orson Welles in The Muppet Movie – but Segel doesn’t quite manage that, instead injecting his performance with a slightly cartoony element. It’s not an issue Amy Adams has, as following the likes of Enchanted she’s something of an expert in treating the fantastical as something absolutely natural. Segel isn’t bad, but it is a shame he couldn’t have toned it down a bit.

That said, it’s a minor annoyance and overall the film is great. Kermit and his coterie are on top form, and they’re given a great showcase to prove why they should be on our screens a lot more. They’re such wonderfully rounded, individual characters – with hopes, dreams and foibles – you can’t help but love them. And of course they’re very funny!

The Blu-ray picture quality is great, with wonderful clarity and bright colours. The sound is also good, showing off the amusing, Oscar-winning songs (there are several absolutely inspired musical numbers). However the thing that really sets Blu-ray apart from the DVD are the special features. On DVD you just get the highly amusing ‘The Longest Blooper Reel Ever Made (In Muppet History*) *We Think’, but the Blu-ray adds in a lot more, all of which is gold.

The ‘Scratching The Surface: A Hasty Examination Of The Making Of The Muppets’ Featurette is wonderful. Seen through the eyes of a Muppet monster who’s working on the film, it mixes interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and a silly, overblown voiceover to create something funny and incredibly watchable. Likewise the deleted scenes and full version of Tex Richman’s song is great fun, as is the commentary. It’s all good stuff and definitely worth looking through.

Overall Verdict: While it has its flaws, the exuberance and humour of The Muppets more than compensates for that. An immensely fun family film on a great Blu-ray disc.

Special Features:
The Longest Blooper Reel Ever Made (In Muppet History*) *We Think
‘Scratching The Surface: A Hasty Examination Of The Making Of The Muppets’ Featurette
Explaining Evil: The Full Text Richman Song
A Little Screen Test On The Way To The Read Through
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Spoof Trailer
Audio Commentary With James Bobin, Jason Segal & Nicholas Stoller

Reviewer: Tim Isaac