A number of 2015 theatrical films have been released on Blu-ray and DVD this week.
Grandma (Sony Classics, 2015, R for language, audio commentary, featurettes). Lily Tomlin shines in this otherwise uneven comedy-drama as a grieving woman whose granddaughter (Julia Garner) hits her up for $600, but since she doesnt have it, they make the rounds of friends and relatives, which reveals much about their lives to each other. Co-stars include Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, Elizabeth Pena and Sam Elliott.
99 Homes (Broadgreen, 2015, R for language, deleted scene, audio commentary). An unemployed Orlando construction worker and single father (Andrew Garfield) is evicted from his home by a ruthless real-estate broker (Michael Shannon). Desperate, he agrees to work for the broker, which leads to illegal dealings and overwhelming guilt. Shannons dynamic performance gives this tough melodrama a boost. Laura Dern co-stars.
Crimson Peak (Universal, 2015; R for violence, sex, language; deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Old-fashioned (and unsavory) ghostly horror set in 1887 and stylishly directed by co-writer Guillermo del Toro (Pans Labyrinth). After a series of strange events, a young author of ghost stories (Mia Wasikowska) marries a mysterious man and moves into his gothic mansion where his sister (Jessica Chastain) seems none to happy about it.
Love the Coopers (Lionsgate, 2015, PG-13, featurettes, music video). A great cast (Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Ed Helms, Anthony Mackie, Marisa Tomei, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb) cant save this aggressively unfunny holiday comedy about a dysfunctional family gathering over Christmas.
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy it) (Music Box, 2005, not rated, featurette, three 1986 TV-editorial satires, two live-concert excerpts, trailer). This documentary is about Renaissance man Melvin Van Peebles, a filmmaker, actor, poet, artist, songwriter, playwright, author you name it. Along with plenty of film clips (some rated R), interviewees include his actor son Mario Van Peebles and filmmaker Spike Lee.
Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China (Virgil, 2016, not rated). This documentary follows Chinese-Jamaican Paula Williams Madison and her two brothers, all raised in Harlem and successful products of the American dream, as they journey to Canada, then China, researching their family tree to discover what happened to their long-lost grandfather.
Chaplains (Virgil, 2016, not rated, featurettes). This documentary provides portraits of men and women who represent various faiths from Christian and Jewish to Muslim and Buddhist who serve as non-denominational chaplains in the military, in prisons, for corporations, for hospitals, etc.
Paulette (Cohen, 2013, R for drugs and language, in French with English subtitles, deleted scenes, trailer). This French crime comedy is about an elderly widow (Bernadette Lafont) who once ran a restaurant but is now desperate for money, so she begins baking cannabis-laced pastries that become wildly popular.
Turbo Kid (Epic, 2015, not rated, audio commentaries, featurettes, photo galleries, trailers). This offbeat, over-the-top-bloody, dystopian action film is set in an alternative 1997 where an orphaned young teen (Munro Chambers) emulates a comic-book superhero to take on the tyrannical overlord (Michael Ironside) that killed his parents. It is purposely fashioned in the style of cheesy 1980s end-of-the-world action flicks.
MI-5 (Lionsgate, 2016, R for violence and language, deleted scenes, featurette). A terrorist escapes custody during a routine handoff, disgracing an MI5 intelligence team and its leader. Nonetheless, they vow to track down the terrorist before an attack on London. Peter Firth, Kit Harington and Jennifer Ehle star.
Freaks of Nature (Columbia, 2015; R for violence, language, sex, drugs; deleted/alternate scenes, bloopers). This horror comedy is set against a town where vampires, zombies and humans get along until an alien invasion pits them against each other. So three teens, one from each group, come together to take on the aliens. The cast includes Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Vanessa Hudgens and Denis Leary.
Estranged (Well Go, 2016, not rated, featurette, trailer). After an accident renders her with amnesia and using a wheelchair, a young woman returns to her home with her boyfriend in tow and they find a highly dysfunctional family that doesnt exactly welcome her with open arms. Then she learns that she ran away six years earlier. But why?
Sociopathia (eOne, 2016, not rated, black-and-white version, deleted scenes, trailer). An introverted young woman creates props for movies but she also kills her boyfriends and keeps their bodies as life-size dolls.
Grandma (Sony Classics, 2015, R for language, audio commentary, featurettes). Lily Tomlin shines in this otherwise uneven comedy-drama as a grieving woman whose granddaughter (Julia Garner) hits her up for $600, but since she doesnt have it, they make the rounds of friends and relatives, which reveals much about their lives to each other. Co-stars include Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, Elizabeth Pena and Sam Elliott.
99 Homes (Broadgreen, 2015, R for language, deleted scene, audio commentary). An unemployed Orlando construction worker and single father (Andrew Garfield) is evicted from his home by a ruthless real-estate broker (Michael Shannon). Desperate, he agrees to work for the broker, which leads to illegal dealings and overwhelming guilt. Shannons dynamic performance gives this tough melodrama a boost. Laura Dern co-stars.
Crimson Peak (Universal, 2015; R for violence, sex, language; deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Old-fashioned (and unsavory) ghostly horror set in 1887 and stylishly directed by co-writer Guillermo del Toro (Pans Labyrinth). After a series of strange events, a young author of ghost stories (Mia Wasikowska) marries a mysterious man and moves into his gothic mansion where his sister (Jessica Chastain) seems none to happy about it.
Love the Coopers (Lionsgate, 2015, PG-13, featurettes, music video). A great cast (Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Ed Helms, Anthony Mackie, Marisa Tomei, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb) cant save this aggressively unfunny holiday comedy about a dysfunctional family gathering over Christmas.
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy it) (Music Box, 2005, not rated, featurette, three 1986 TV-editorial satires, two live-concert excerpts, trailer). This documentary is about Renaissance man Melvin Van Peebles, a filmmaker, actor, poet, artist, songwriter, playwright, author you name it. Along with plenty of film clips (some rated R), interviewees include his actor son Mario Van Peebles and filmmaker Spike Lee.
Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China (Virgil, 2016, not rated). This documentary follows Chinese-Jamaican Paula Williams Madison and her two brothers, all raised in Harlem and successful products of the American dream, as they journey to Canada, then China, researching their family tree to discover what happened to their long-lost grandfather.
Chaplains (Virgil, 2016, not rated, featurettes). This documentary provides portraits of men and women who represent various faiths from Christian and Jewish to Muslim and Buddhist who serve as non-denominational chaplains in the military, in prisons, for corporations, for hospitals, etc.
Paulette (Cohen, 2013, R for drugs and language, in French with English subtitles, deleted scenes, trailer). This French crime comedy is about an elderly widow (Bernadette Lafont) who once ran a restaurant but is now desperate for money, so she begins baking cannabis-laced pastries that become wildly popular.
Turbo Kid (Epic, 2015, not rated, audio commentaries, featurettes, photo galleries, trailers). This offbeat, over-the-top-bloody, dystopian action film is set in an alternative 1997 where an orphaned young teen (Munro Chambers) emulates a comic-book superhero to take on the tyrannical overlord (Michael Ironside) that killed his parents. It is purposely fashioned in the style of cheesy 1980s end-of-the-world action flicks.
MI-5 (Lionsgate, 2016, R for violence and language, deleted scenes, featurette). A terrorist escapes custody during a routine handoff, disgracing an MI5 intelligence team and its leader. Nonetheless, they vow to track down the terrorist before an attack on London. Peter Firth, Kit Harington and Jennifer Ehle star.
Freaks of Nature (Columbia, 2015; R for violence, language, sex, drugs; deleted/alternate scenes, bloopers). This horror comedy is set against a town where vampires, zombies and humans get along until an alien invasion pits them against each other. So three teens, one from each group, come together to take on the aliens. The cast includes Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Vanessa Hudgens and Denis Leary.
Estranged (Well Go, 2016, not rated, featurette, trailer). After an accident renders her with amnesia and using a wheelchair, a young woman returns to her home with her boyfriend in tow and they find a highly dysfunctional family that doesnt exactly welcome her with open arms. Then she learns that she ran away six years earlier. But why?
Sociopathia (eOne, 2016, not rated, black-and-white version, deleted scenes, trailer). An introverted young woman creates props for movies but she also kills her boyfriends and keeps their bodies as life-size dolls.
