ROUND UP
STURLA BRANDTH GROVLEN
The work of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, composer of the score for Arrival, art film LAST AND FIRST MEN (VOD, out now on BFI Player) sees Tilda Swinton impassively declaiming passages from Olaf Stapledon’s 1930 SF novel, recounting mankind’s post-human evolution. This voice from billions of years in the future is overlaid on B&W footage of the spomeniks: war memorials erected by Marshal Tito, dictator of Yugoslavia. With floating camerawork rendering this brutalist architecture as sinister and alien as 2001’s Monolith, the combination is quite hypnotic.BATWOMAN SEASON ONE (Blu-ray/DVD, 17 August) didn’t wow our reviewer. We said: “The characters are thin and one-note. The action scenes are visually incomprehensible. And the scripts tear though clichés like they’re on a two-forone offer… The worst Arrowverse show by some margin.” Extras: deleted scenes, a gag reel and highlights of four DC show Comic-Con panels. A bonus disc features all five Crisis On Infinite Earths episodes. Sadly we found out aboutSUPERGIRL (Blu-ray, out now) too late to take another look. This 1984 movie stars Helen Slater as Superman’s cuz, who heads to Earth as the lifeforce of Argo City finds its way into the hands of Faye Dunaway’s witch. Back in the day, we said: “Not worthy to lick Superman: The Movie’s big red boots. Slater - surrounded by a gaggle of A-listers - tries her best, but seems lost in the company of these heavyweights.” This two-disc set features the 125-minute international version, but no theatrical cut or Director’s Cut.