This week's new DVD & Blu-ray

Warrior The plot and characters of Warrior are so corny and shopworn that the film should really come with a health warning that it's way past its sell-by date. The direction isn't much better: there's a C-plot involving students that should have you shouting for the editor's blood every time it appears, and even the required sports training montage is badly fumbled. So why is this being feted as one of 2011's best films when it should be counted among the worst? It's the acting. Across the board, the performances here are superb. With fast-rising stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton playing the punchy estranged siblings competing in a mixed martial arts tournament, you get two actors committed to delivering the physicality the roles demand as well as being more than capable at making the stale drama seem fresh. Best of all is Nick Nolte as their drunk disappointment of a dad. Nolte has long been top of the casting list for grizzled grumps, but the simple reason for that is he's so darned good at it. Played out by a lesser cast, you'd be fast-forwarding like mad through the film to get to the great fight sequences. But with Hardy, Edgerton and particularly Nolte all giving far more than the material deserves, you get a movie that'll have you crying like a baby or punching the air in victory. DVD & Blu-ray, Lionsgate Boca Solid Brazilian crime thriller, based on a true story, of a criminal's rise in the ghetto. DVD & Blu-ray, Universal Red Scorpion Politically highly dubious (produced by disgraced US lobbyist Jack Abramoff) but action-packed Dolph Lungren flick. Blu-ray, Arrow Restless Gus Van Sant's disappointing romance between a cancer patient and funeral crasher is all quirk and no bite. DVD, Sony All Quiet On The Western Front, To Kill A Mockingbird Universal's centenary celebrations kick off with these incredible restorations of classic literary adaptations. Blu-ray, Universal