Vin Diesel

Getting ready for a little speed. The Fate of the Furious is out now on Blu-ray, and The GATE is giving away five copies to fans who want to see Dom behind the wheel again.

Columbian model-turned-actress Ariadna Gutiérrez had a dream come true when she was cast alongside Vin Diesel in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. For her first role on screen the former Miss Colombia was thrilled to take the step to the big screen, and to work with Diesel, who she described as an “incredible man”.

I quite like almost all of the other films in the meatheaded Fast and the Furious franchise, but it pains me to say that for the first time since the fourth entry in the series tried to take things in a new direction, the series eight installment, The Fate of the Furious, left me completely bored throughout much of its running time. It also left me baffled and more than a little upset that such a fun and goofy series about the “importance of family” and “living life a quarter mile at a time” would suddenly forget everything that made these likably silly bits of entertaining in the first place and instead doubles down on the kind of nasty disaster porn and sadism that’s more evocative of a Transformers film than a Fast and the Furious film.

Return of Xander Cage isn’t a great film, but it’s one that has learned good lessons from past mistakes. More Mission: Impossible and less James Bond 2.0, this third entry in the series has boundless energy, some nifty moments of invention, and an international minded cast that oozes charisma by the truckload.

On August 1, watch out for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a summer tent-pole film directed by James Gunn that stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and featuring Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot.

Lazy Friday News is a weekly round-up of stories from across the spectrum of entertainment, or whatever happens to tickle my funny bone. This week: the first demo from The Beatles has resurfaced after 50 years; Emma Stone may have a sex tape out there somewhere; Judd Apatow’s 22-year-old Simpsons script is finally being made; $299 could earn you a celebrity voicemail message; Chevy Chase is walking away from Community; and expect the next Riddick film to come with a hard-R rating.

New releases this week on Blu-ray and DVD: The Lion King debuts on Blu-ray for the first time; Neve Campbell stars in the horror sequel Scream 4; Vin Diesel and Paul Walker push the pedal to the metal one more time in Fast Five; plus a look at Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition and African Cats.

Opening in theatres this week: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster take driving to extremes in the action extravaganza Fast Five; a group of teenagers deal with the drama of their last high school dance in Prom; plus a look at the animated sequel, Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil.

Arriving this week on store shelves: Disney debuts their latest animated princess story, Tangled, starring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi; Academy Award-winner Natalie Portman stars in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller, Black Swan; plus reviews of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Riddick Collection on Blu-ray.

This week on DVD and Blu-ray: Daniel Day-Lewis stars in the musical drama, Nine; things get a little strange in Terry Gilliam‘s Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus; and Steven Spielberg‘s moving war epic Saving Private Ryan arrives on Blu-ray.