Natalie Portman’s shiny new Academy Award is going to reflect an awful lot of spotlights on her over the next few years. This should be fine, of course, but it’s not ideal when the project currently in the post-Oscar glare is a distinctly average drama which she made before Black Swan and which has only just crept onto DVD. The only impossibility in Love and Other Impossible Pursuits is enjoying it.

“Blood Out” – Mexican Mafia Motto: To blood out is a requirement to leave a gang. To join, “blood in”, you must kill someone. The only way to leave, “blood out”, is to be killed yourself.
For a film that opened with crack, tits and hip-hop Blood Out was more than a little disappointing.

The fly on the wall documentary American Harmony delves into the obsessive world of modern barbershop quartets; where fast-food managers moonlight as minor celebrities and grown men serenade french fries (well, it is America).

Upon its release in 1972, On Any Sunday, a low-budget documentary about the lives of motorcycle racers, immediately generated interest (perhaps largely due to the participation of Steve McQueen) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Now due to be re-released on DVD on the 12th of September, it’s our job to see how the documentary stands up against the test of time. And also Steve McQueen is in it. Did we mention Steve McQueen is in it?

This is, according to the handy subtitle, Henry Jaglom’s “very serious comedy about women and food”. Except it’s not; in fact, the term ‘comedy’ has never been so grossly misused. Quite honestly, it’s an utterly depressing commentary on eating disorders. Which is perfect for those looking for some sort of diet companion DVD…

Nostalgic for the good old days of The Goonies and Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Never fret – JJ Abrams has written a love letter to Steven Spielberg that sprinkles the ‘only kids can truly understand’ formula with a dusting of real monster magic. Old-timers will breathe a sigh of relief, new bloods will wish they lived in a time when you biked to visit your friend just next door, fabrics came in seven hot variations of ‘mustard’ and cool kids had walkie talkies not iPhones.

The Colour of Pomegranates, Sergei Paradjanov’s tribute to Armenian poet Sayat Nova, is a deeply unconventional take on the traditional biography. Universally praised and widely held as a dreamlike masterpiece, naturally I’d never heard of it.

This serviceable scrapyard slasher has a bit of poke in the engine and a few nice body mods, but the plot’s had a few too many miles on the clock…

After Kevin Deakin returns home from combat after being presumed dead, his loved ones are overjoyed to see him. But as rumours of desertion abound, how long can his warm welcome last? Paul Greengass at his pre-Bourne best in a film that attempts to get to grips with the psychology of a man broken by war.

Australian cinema has given us some cult classics over the years, proving that the country’s cinematic output isn’t all Baz Luhrmann. The Castle, now being re-released 15 years after it was made, is perhaps the best of the bunch. Hilarious and touching – just get it, it’s a ripper! (That’s Australian for “good”).