Donald Clarke & Michael Dwyer review the latest movie DVD releases.

INLAND EMPIRE; Directed by David Lynch; Starring Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux, Scott Coffey, Grace Zabriskie, Diane Ladd 16 cert, ****

Shot on digital video, Lynch's latest sprawling nightmare defies synopsis. Suffice to say it begins with Dern's actress signing up for a Southern melodrama, then takes in giant rabbits, Polish prostitutes and tame monkeys. Lynch agnostics should, perhaps, beware. No feeling person could, however, fail to be taken aback by the ambition of this singular project. The excellent two-disc package features a bundle of interviews with the great man, but, like the first edition of Mulholland Drive, the feature is presented without chapter breaks. Go figure. DC

SUNSHINE; Directed by Danny Boyle; Starring Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Mark Strong 15 cert, ***

The latest collaboration between Boyle and writer Alex Garland - the team behind 28 Days Later- finds a group of glam scientists seeking to restart the dying sun by propelling a nuclear bomb into its core. Sadly, the mass of interweaving subplots unravels badly in a confusing denouement. It does, nonetheless, just about get by on atmosphere. The DVD features an interesting commentary by Dr Brian Cox, the film's science advisor. DC

FAST FOOD NATION; Directed by Richard Linklater; Starring Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Bruce Willis 15 cert; ***

Linklater reshapes Eric Schlosser's nonfiction book as a narrative feature depicting fast food production as disgusting and dangerous. The energetic, overtly didactic movie bites off rather more than it can chew, but it nimbly meshes the diverse strands together, and is marked by an evident sincerity and concern.

THE NIGHT OF THE SUNFLOWERS/LA NOCHE DE LOS GIRASOLES; Directed by Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo. Starring Carmelo Gómez, Judith Diakhate 18 cert; ****

The discovery of a woman's body in a field of sunflowers is the starting point for this engrossing thriller set in an isolated rural town in northern Spain. The cleverly constructed script explores the consequences through six overlapping chapters as events are revisited from different perspectives. MD

First-time director Canosa uses split screen throughout as he probes the relationship between a man (Eckhart) and a woman (Bonham Carter) who meet at a wedding reception. The device is initially distracting, but we gradually relax into the format, and the two actors inhabit their characters with flair and conviction.

WILD HOGS; Directed by Walt Becker. Starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H Macy, Ray Liotta, Marisa Tomei, Jill Hennessy 15 cert; **

Unnecessary retread of the already only passably amusing City Slickers, in which four frustrated men make their way to California on motorbikes. Neither remotely good, nor profoundly terrible,

Wild Hogscould have been made from a packet of dehydrated entertainment labelled "Generic Low-Grade Spring Comedy".

The film is issued here in the unadorned vanilla DVD that it deserves.

REIGN OVER ME; Directed by Mike Binder. Starring Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland 16 cert; **

Cheadle's successful dentist tries to drag catatonic Sandler, a college chum widowed on September 11th, back into the world of the living in this sincere but largely inert drama. The picture does happen upon a series of interesting oppositions, but it never develops anything you'd call a plot. The DVD release is pretty unremarkable. DC

ALPHA DOG; Directed by Nick Cassavetes. Starring Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, Harry Dean Stanton 18 cert; **

When a junkie (Foster) fails to pay his debts to a cocky drug dealer (Hirsch), his 15-year-old brother (Yelchin) is kidnapped in this muddled, factually based movie that voyeuristically observes the indolent, debauched lifestyles of bored, affluent young Americans.

THE REAPING; Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Starring Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, Stephen Rea 15 cert; *

Teeth-jarringly useless, dubiously biblical horror film in which Hilary Swank - once a pastor, now a professional sceptic - does her best to convince the inhabitants of a hick town that they are not suffering the 10 plagues of Egypt. Sadly, it is she who is eventually forced to revise her opinions. The DVD features the juvenile lead reading a spooky story she wrote herself. Get in line, folks. DC

I WANT CANDY; Directed by Stephen Surjik. Starring, Tom Riley, Tom Burke, Carmen Electra 16 cert; *

The worst film of the year so far finally staggers onto DVD. Following two young film students as they make a porn film in mummy's front room, this unspeakable romp acts as a grisly reminder of the awful detumescent sex comedies that emerged from England in the 1970s. A disgrace to all involved.