DONALD CLARKEand MICHAEL DWYERreview this week's DVD releases

Room with a skewed view

THE BED-SITTING ROOM****
Directed by Richard Lester. Starring Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson, Arthur Lowe. 12 cert

When did the Swinging Sixties end? Altamont? Woodstock? What about the day that Richard Lester's fantastically barmy - and criminally under-regarded - film version of The Bed-Sitting Room (1970) opened in unsuspecting cinemas? Based on a play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus, the picture details the aftermath of a nuclear war that has reduced London to surprisingly interesting rubble. There is certainly madness here. Ralph Richardson is frightened that he might mutate into the bedsit of the title. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore lurk overhead in a balloon. But the film, a worthy successor to Lester classics such as A Hard Day's Night and The Knack, is essentially as pessimistic as something by Beckett. As ever, the British Film Institute offer a gorgeous package including fine notes and contemporaneous interviews with Milligan, Lester and Cook. The DVD is part of a series entitled Flipside which also includes the bizarre not-quite-documentaries London in the Raw (1964) and Primitive London (1965). Seek them out. DC

THE CLASS/ENTRE LES MURS ****

Directed by Laurent Cantet. Starring François Bégaudeau, Esméralda Ouertani. 12 cert

Cantet's Palme d'Or-winning film proves enthralling and irresistible as it closely observes a teacher and his 14-year-old pupils over the course of an academic year in Paris. As it addresses the hopes, dreams and failures of this multi-racial class, the film presents a microcosm of contemporary France. MD

BOLT ****

Directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard. Voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell. Gen cert.

The latest and easily the best feature from Disney's own-brand CG animation studio follows a TV-star dog as, after learning home truths about his lack of superpowers, he is forced to make his way across the US. Though not of Pixar standard, a delight from its frothy beginning to its pleasantly blubby end. DC

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL ****

Directed by Sacha Gervasi. Documentary. 15 cert

Gervasi's entertaining film is sympathetic but unflinching as it charts the experiences of a band who were the "demigods of Canadian metal" in the early 1980s. Despite all the hard knocks and bitter disillusionments that followed, their dreams of rock stardom persist and their tenacity is admirable. MD

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA ****

Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Chris Messina, Patricia Clarkson. 15 cert

Two US tourists (Hall and Johansson) get caught up with a seductive Spanish painter (Bardem) and his volatile ex-wife (Cruz) in Allen’s breezy comedy, his most entertaining movie in many years.

(Available from Monday.)

NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST ***

Directed by Peter Sollett. Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Rafi Gavron, Aaron Yoo, Ari Graynor, Alexis Dziena. 15 cert

Cera engagingly plays shy, jilted Nick, who’s thrown together with cool, confident Norah (Dennings) over an eventful night in New York. The consequences are alternately tender and exuberant in this appealing comedy-romance, and often very funny. (Available from Monday.)