New DVDs

Latest video releases reviewed

CAPOTE

Directed by Bennett Miller. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr, Chris Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Bob Balaban 15 cert

*****

In his Oscar-winning performance, Hoffman nails the fey, affected voice of Truman Capote and the author's narcissism in a film exploring his fascination with the Kansas killings that inspired his innovative non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood. This fine, thoughtful drama is scripted and treated with a bracing intelligence that matches its subject. The film is also available on an unmissable two-disc DVD set with the enthralling 1967 film of In Cold Blood. Michael Dwyer

ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE

Directed by Jon Favreau. Starring Josh Hutcher- son, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robbins PG cert

***

Two bored brothers begin playing an ancient sci-fi board game and find their house catapulted into outer space. This unofficial follow-up to Jumanji - same plot, source novel by same author - is actually notably superior to that overblown mess. The DVD includes an abundance of featurettes. Donald Clarke

THE BOYS (AND GIRL) FROM COUNTY CLARE

Directed by John Irvin. Starring Colm Meaney, Bernard Hill, Andrea Corr, Philip Barantini, Shaun Evans, Charlotte Bradley, Patrick Bergin 15 cert

*

A feud between two brothers comes to a head when they enter their ceili bands for the All-Ireland Traditional Music Championships. The exceedingly wispy screenplay makes very few demands of the cast in Irvin's twee, blarney-laden yarn set in the mid-1960s. Nice scenery, though. Michael Dwyer