I’m a bit baffled that Armando Iannucci’s brilliant The Death Of Stalin (Paramount, Rated R, DVD-$14.99 SRP) is only getting a standard DVD release here in the US. Does high definition make the already uncomfortably identifiable events just too real? And where’s my audio commentary? At least the release does get a featurette and deleted scenes, but a future high-def version would be much appreciated.
Another Pixar movie means we get another incredible Art Of book from the fine folks at Chronicle Books, and it’s particularly fitting that this year’s incredible Art Of book from Chronicle is The Art Of The Incredibles 2 (Chronicle Books, $40 SRP), with an introduction by director Brad Bird.
I really had almost zero expectations for the comedy Game Night (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP) besides the hope that it would be a pleasant diversion in these deeply distressing times. And hey! It was. With a cast that includes Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Sarah Horgan, and the comedy award-worthy Jesse Plemons, it’s a lark worth watching. Bonus materials include a featurette and a gag reel.
The 21st season of South Park (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), following the 20th season’s election-themed, continuity-heavy debacle, is the first in a long while that I have pretty much zero memory of, all these months later. Re-watching them, the episodes are certainly strong, if entirely forgettable. Bonus materials include the usual batch of mini-commentaries from Matt Stone & Trey Parker.
The Angelina Jolie films were fine, but the rebooted Tomb Raider (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 4K-$29.96 SRP), starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, delivers the franchise into a much more stable modern footing as a solid action film sans the cheese. Bonus materials include a quartet of featurettes.
I have mixed feelings about Forrest Gump (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 4K-$25.75 SRP), which is newly available in UltraHD. It’s a supremely affable film, almost inexplicably so, but it’s also the movie that gave Robert Zemeckis gold fever, winning the Best Picture Academy Award and setting him on a path far removed from the beloved comedy and genre flicks that had defined his career previously. Shame, really. Bonus materials include audio commentaries featurettes, and screen tests.
I had never heard of the film Cold Turkey (Olive Films, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.95 SRP). Written and directed by Norman Lear, it’s about a small, impoverished town in the Midwest who accepts a challenge to go tobacco-free for a month in exchange for $25 million. And it stars Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Jean Stapleton, Edward Everett Horton, Tom Poston, and Bob & Ray, with music by Randy Newman? I’m in.
Truly solid science fiction films are few and far between. The last one was probably The Arrival, and I’d certainly put Annihilation (Paramount, Rated R, 4K-$44.99 SRP) in that rarified air, with a stellar cast (Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac) and a wonderfully weird concept about exploring a bubble of unique evolution, see it. Bonus materials include a handful of featurettes.
A lot has been said about the satirical inspiration of A Day In The Life Of Marlon Bundo (Chronicle Books, $18.99 SRP) and its origin within John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, so instead I just want to say what a beautiful children’s book bunny Marlon Bundo (with Jill Tweiss) has crafted, with lovely illustrations by EG Keller and an even more beautiful message of love and inclusivity.
The first Paddington film was an unexpectedly sweet outing for the marmalade-loving bear, and the simply named sequel Paddington 2 (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) manages to retain all of the charm and add substantially to it for a sequel that often exceeds already high expectations. It’s a deeply charming, fun, funny film. Bonus materials include featurettes and a music video.
In the mood for John Landis double feature this weekend? Well, a pair of his films are celebrating their anniversaries with brand new releases – the 35th anniversary edition of Trading Places (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) and the 30th anniversary edition of Coming To America (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP). Bonus materials on Trading Places include featurettes, a deleted scene, and an industry promotional pieces, while Coming To America sports featurettes, an Arsenio/Eddie sitdown, and a photo gallery.
I own the stories in plenty of different volumes released over the years, but Fantagraphics has crafted the definitive edition of Carl Barks’ classic Disney Duck tales with their multi-volume Carl Barks Library, the latest volume of which is Donald Duck: The Lost Peg Leg Mine (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), featuring a batch of stories from the late 1950s.
By the 5th season of Orange Is The New Black (Lionsgate, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.97 SRP), we’re dangerously close to the show becoming a bit too cartoonish, as characters become more removed from reality as a way of extending the series. It’s not quite there, but the warning signs certainly are, as we dive into a prison riot storyline. Bonus materials include commentaries, a featurette, and a gag reel.
A sixth film is headed to theaters, which makes the timing perfect for the first 5 Mission: Impossible films – Mission: Impossible, Mission Impossible 2, Mission Impossible 3, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, & Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 4K-$44.95 SRP each) – to make their UltraHD debut packed with new and vintage bonus materials, including featurettes, audio commentaries, galleries, and more. But really, after so many films, it seems the series should be more correctly called Mission: Improbable.
But, in a world where we have Tom Cruise Mission Impossible films, I’m not sure why we ever needed Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 4k-$44.95 SRP), which just seems a watered-down, joyless version of that other long-lasting franchise. Sure, there’s nothing awful about the Reacher films, they’re just forgettable. Bonus materials include audio commentaries and a trio of featurettes.
I thought the live action Suicide Squad was a boatload of hot garbage, so the animated Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay (Warner Bros., Rated R, 4K-$24.95 SRP) had only a subterranean bar to clear, which it does handily by at least being a watchable story that only runs less than 90 minutes. Bonus materials include featurettes and a sneak peek at the animated Death Of Superman.
Not only has Ashley Eckstein cemented herself in the hearts of Star Wars fandom for her portrayal of Ahsoka Tano, but she’s also gone on to carve out an empire with her fashion brand/fangirl community Her Universe. In It’s Your Universe: You Have The Power To Make It Happen (Disney Editions, $17.99 SRP), she charts her course from a young fangirl geeking on Disney to her current career as an actress and entrepreneur.
I do love a horror film that places more weight on suspense than on gore, and A Quiet Place (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 4K-$34.99 SRP) certainly falls into that paradigm, even if the concept itself – about a family having to remain absolutely silent in order to avoid detection by deadly aliens with acute hearing – doesn’t really hold up to too much scrutiny. But who cares? It’s a taut ride. Bonus materials include a trio of featurettes.
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
-Ken Plume
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