DVD REVIEW: A Million Ways To Die In The West, Belle, Murdoch Mysteries

SOMETIMES you just can't pick 'em. Despite a great trailer and heavy promotion, this flick directed by and starring Seth MacFarlane failed to touch the funnybone of moviegoers.

It's got all the trademarks of a modern comedy - lots of swearing, poop jokes, sex and sexy stars. But it's too racy for pre-teens. Heck, it's too profane and violent for many people.

To an old-timer, it's a bit of like Blazing Saddles, too naughty for the common man and woman. If you are not turned off by the four-letter words pouring out in the first five minutes, this movie might work for you.

MacFarlane is a nice-guy comedian and this vehicle seems like a real change in direction compared to his previously over-the-top successful outing, Ted. He's got a strong cast on board - Charlize Theron as his new love interest, Anna; Liam Neeson as her evil husband, Clinch; Amanda Seyfried as MacFarlane's straying girlfriend, Louise; and Neil Patrick Harris as Foy, who steals Louise.

Sarah Silverman as prostitute Ruth and Giovanni Ribisi as MacFarlane's best mate, Edward, are good fun.

Somehow, against the odds, MacFarlane, as too-smart-for-his-own-good and out-of-his-depth sheep farmer Albert, wins the day, plays the hero and gets the girl. But there's plenty of stinking trouble from the beginning to end.

Rating: ★★★

- Jim Kellar

Icon Entertainment, 102 minutes

JANE Austen fans will love this period drama set in the late 1700s in London, with its gorgeous Georgian gowns, unsuitable suitors, legal wills and strong-willed leads. Along with the starchy mire of marriage and society to navigate, this movie adds a twist to the usual romantic fare - race and slavery.

Belle is the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Royal Navy officer John Lindsay, who brings her to London to be raised after her mother dies.

He leaves Belle in the care of his uncle, the Lord Chief Justice William Murray, who is also raising another niece the same age, Elizabeth Murray. The two cousins grow up as best friends in the same house, but Belle's racial heritage means she occupies a lower rank in the strictly ordered social world, unable to dine at the table when guests call, yet able to meet them after dinner as a lady of the house. She is above the servants but not quite as elevated as the white members of the family.

Within the walls of Kenwood House she lives as a gentlewoman, but when it comes time for the girls to make their first London season, Belle is not to be a formal debutante. She accompanies Elizabeth but is told she is unlikely to ever marry a gentleman because of her skin colour.

The romantic trials of the girls' season is set against the court case before the Lord Chief Justice. He must rule in a case where insurers refused to pay a slave trader recompense for "lost" cargo, after 142 slaves were thrown overboard and left to drown by the ship Zong. For Belle, the case becomes personal.

As a screenplay inspired by a 1779 portrait of two young women and a series of court cases, this has enough history to make it interesting and enough fiction to make it work for Hollywood.

Add some classic British actors into the mix - Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, beautiful newcomers Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sarah Gadon and familiar faces Tom Felton and Matthew Goode - and you get a highly watchable, entertaining movie.

As a movie, there are no surprises, but the buggy ride is pleasant enough.

Rating: ★★★

- Louise Fraser

Roadshow, 794 minutes

WELCOME back to the world of Inspector William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) a young Catholic detective in late 19th-century Toronto, Canada, which was at the time a predominantly Protestant city, a fact that had a bearing on Murdoch's early career. Always keen to improve himself and winkle out new forensic techniques, Murdoch uses fingerprinting, blood testing, surveillance and trace evidence to help him solve cases, at a time when such things were ignored for more conventional techniques.

Doctor Julia Ogden (Helene Joy), pathologist at the city morgue, shares Murdoch's fascination with forensic science and they make an effective team. Murdoch's superior, Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) prefers convention but backs his young detective and Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) is forever intrigued with Murdoch's methods.

In this series, Murdoch and Ogden are aboard a liner to investigate threats against its owner; they come across their nemesis James Gillies (Michael Slater); Murdoch meets George's aunts and finds out a bit more of his background; a sea monster rears its ugly head; there is a zombie army; Ragtime hits Toronto as does a murder; more murders; mysterious diamond thefts and a little kung fu. And romance. Let us not forget the attraction between Murdoch and Ogden, waiting to be resolved.

These series, based on novels by Maureen Jennings, feature real people of the time in various episodes, such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, H.G. Wells, Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan Doyle, Queen Victoria, the Wright brothers, Sir Winston Churchill and Thomas Edison.

This is an engaging series and Murdoch is portrayed as a competent, intelligent, and very human detective, if a little too Dudley Dooright at times.

Rating: ★★★

- Elvira Sprogis

The winners of Aussie Pickers DVDs are: N. Collier, of Holmesville; E. Broadbent, of Elermore Vale; R. Macfarlane, of Fletcher; M. Davoren, of New Lambton; and L. Foot, of Raymond Terrace.