The fourth time was the charm for perpetual Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as the title character in Still Alice, now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Still Alice (Sony Classics/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014, PG-13, deleted scenes, featurettes, trailers). Adapted from the best-selling novel by Lisa Genova, Still Alice is about a high-profile linguistics professor (Moore) who begins showing symptoms of early-onset Alzheimers after her 50th birthday and how she and her family deal with her gradual mental deterioration.
In lesser hands this material could be histrionic or overly sentimental or even finger-pointing, especially when its revealed that this form of Alzheimers is a rare genetic disorder and her three grown children (Hunter Parrish, Kate Bosworth and Kristen Stewart) must decide whether to be tested for the gene. But its approached sensitively, focusing largely on the relationship with her youngest daughter (Stewart), as well as on how her husband (Alec Baldwin) reacts.
Still, this is Moores movie all the way, and her performance is nuanced and engrossing and altogether remarkable.
Mortdecai (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for language and sex, featurettes, trailers). Justly vilified by critics, this broad farce is an attempt to create another Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers Pink Panther character), but its a complete misfire, despite being adapted from a popular series of novels. Johnny Depp has the title role as an eccentric art dealer recruited to retrieve a stolen painting that may hide the secret to a cache of Nazi gold. A colorful globetrotting adventure ensues, but unfortunately laughs do not. Co-stars include Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Goldblum and Olivia Munn.
Blackhat (Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, R for violence and language, featurettes, trailers). This cyber thriller is a misfire from Michael Mann, whose better work includes The Last of the Mohicans and Heat. Chris Hemsworth stars as an imprisoned hacker recruited by government agents (led by Viola Davis) to take down a cyber criminal network. Cluttered, confused and distant, despite the presence of the engaging Hemsworth.
These Final Hours (Well Go/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated, trailers). Yet another apocalyptic melodrama, as if this genre hasnt been overworked. Australia has just 12 hours before a meteor destroys whats left of Earth, having already crashed into the North Atlantic. James (Nathan Phillips) leaves his pregnant lover to head out for a big end-of-the-world party but is sidetracked when he rescues a young girl in peril. (Not rated but with R-level violence, sex, nudity, language.)
Magical Universe (Sundance Selects/DVD, 2014, not rated, featurettes, teasers/trailer). Documentary about the late artist Al Carbee, which includes filmmaker Jeremy Workman's relationship with his subject. Carbee is a Maine recluse who creates photographic montages of Barbie dolls he arranges in dioramas. This offbeat film was created over the course of a decade, during which time the artists profile rose in prominence.
Tracers (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, featurettes, trailers). Taylor Lautner stars as a New York bicycle messenger in debt to the Chinese mob. After he bumps (literally) into a pretty stranger, she introduces him to the world of parkour the popular method of running, jumping and climbing thats working its way into lots of movies these days. He joins her gang; predictable twists ensue.
The Sleepwalker (Sundance Selects/DVD, 2014, not rated, featurette, trailer). A man and woman are renovating an old house in a wooded Massachusetts area when her sister arrives unannounced and, soon, the sisters boyfriend does too. Old wounds are reopened and harbored resentments resurface. What did their father do to these sisters? And when the visiting sister disappears, is she just sleepwalking again or is something more sinister afoot? Moody and elliptical but never engaging. (R-level sex abounds.)
Wet Hot American Summer (Universal/Blu-ray, 2001; R for sex, language and drugs; deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, photo gallery, trailer). This raunchy summer-camp comedy, which has built a cult following, focuses on the counselors and features a supporting cast of up-and-comers who went on to bigger things (Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd). Janeane Garofalo stars as the camp director, who is in love with an astrophysics professor (David Hyde Pierce) and trying to keep her counselors in line. Can you say Meatballs?
Still Alice (Sony Classics/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014, PG-13, deleted scenes, featurettes, trailers). Adapted from the best-selling novel by Lisa Genova, Still Alice is about a high-profile linguistics professor (Moore) who begins showing symptoms of early-onset Alzheimers after her 50th birthday and how she and her family deal with her gradual mental deterioration.
In lesser hands this material could be histrionic or overly sentimental or even finger-pointing, especially when its revealed that this form of Alzheimers is a rare genetic disorder and her three grown children (Hunter Parrish, Kate Bosworth and Kristen Stewart) must decide whether to be tested for the gene. But its approached sensitively, focusing largely on the relationship with her youngest daughter (Stewart), as well as on how her husband (Alec Baldwin) reacts.
Still, this is Moores movie all the way, and her performance is nuanced and engrossing and altogether remarkable.
Mortdecai (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for language and sex, featurettes, trailers). Justly vilified by critics, this broad farce is an attempt to create another Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers Pink Panther character), but its a complete misfire, despite being adapted from a popular series of novels. Johnny Depp has the title role as an eccentric art dealer recruited to retrieve a stolen painting that may hide the secret to a cache of Nazi gold. A colorful globetrotting adventure ensues, but unfortunately laughs do not. Co-stars include Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Goldblum and Olivia Munn.
Blackhat (Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, R for violence and language, featurettes, trailers). This cyber thriller is a misfire from Michael Mann, whose better work includes The Last of the Mohicans and Heat. Chris Hemsworth stars as an imprisoned hacker recruited by government agents (led by Viola Davis) to take down a cyber criminal network. Cluttered, confused and distant, despite the presence of the engaging Hemsworth.
These Final Hours (Well Go/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated, trailers). Yet another apocalyptic melodrama, as if this genre hasnt been overworked. Australia has just 12 hours before a meteor destroys whats left of Earth, having already crashed into the North Atlantic. James (Nathan Phillips) leaves his pregnant lover to head out for a big end-of-the-world party but is sidetracked when he rescues a young girl in peril. (Not rated but with R-level violence, sex, nudity, language.)
Magical Universe (Sundance Selects/DVD, 2014, not rated, featurettes, teasers/trailer). Documentary about the late artist Al Carbee, which includes filmmaker Jeremy Workman's relationship with his subject. Carbee is a Maine recluse who creates photographic montages of Barbie dolls he arranges in dioramas. This offbeat film was created over the course of a decade, during which time the artists profile rose in prominence.
Tracers (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, featurettes, trailers). Taylor Lautner stars as a New York bicycle messenger in debt to the Chinese mob. After he bumps (literally) into a pretty stranger, she introduces him to the world of parkour the popular method of running, jumping and climbing thats working its way into lots of movies these days. He joins her gang; predictable twists ensue.
The Sleepwalker (Sundance Selects/DVD, 2014, not rated, featurette, trailer). A man and woman are renovating an old house in a wooded Massachusetts area when her sister arrives unannounced and, soon, the sisters boyfriend does too. Old wounds are reopened and harbored resentments resurface. What did their father do to these sisters? And when the visiting sister disappears, is she just sleepwalking again or is something more sinister afoot? Moody and elliptical but never engaging. (R-level sex abounds.)
Wet Hot American Summer (Universal/Blu-ray, 2001; R for sex, language and drugs; deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, photo gallery, trailer). This raunchy summer-camp comedy, which has built a cult following, focuses on the counselors and features a supporting cast of up-and-comers who went on to bigger things (Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd). Janeane Garofalo stars as the camp director, who is in love with an astrophysics professor (David Hyde Pierce) and trying to keep her counselors in line. Can you say Meatballs?
