Although it was eclipsed by Jurassic World, the second Avengers movie was still a huge box-office hit, and fans are no doubt rejoicing over its Blu-ray and DVD release this week.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron (Marvel/Disney/Blu-ray 3-D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) inadvertently unleashes the title villain, Ultron (James Spader), which is bent on the extinction of the human race.
So Stark (aka Iron Man), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must put aside their differences, come together and save humanity.
It's highly entertaining, though everyone seems to agree that this second in The Avengers series is not quite up to the first film. But whatever disappointments fans may feel didnt hurt its box-office earnings. Its the years No. 2 hit, and thats not likely to change.
Batkid Begins (Warner/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG). You may be familiar with the central story at the heart of this uplifting, charming, sentimental documentary, but youll still find the film captivating. Make-A-Wish asked 5-year-old Miles Scott, who had been battling leukemia since he was 18 months old, what he would wish for, and he said he wanted to be Batkid. With help from social media, San Francisco was turned into Gotham City for a day, with thousands of strangers participating, as Miles was swept up in an adventure that made him Batmans sidekick.
When Marnie Was There (GKids/Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, in English or in Japanese with English subtitles, featurettes, storyboards, trailers). This gorgeously rendered Japanese animated feature is about Anna, a young girl with asthma whose foster parents send her to the seaside for the summer. There, she meets a mysterious girl named Marnie. They forge a bond, and eventually Anna discovers the secrets of her heritage. It's a warm, sentimental anime by Studio Ghibli that wont disappoint fans. English voices include Hailee Steinfeld, John C. Reilly, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Bates and Geena Davis.
What We Did On Our Holiday (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurette). This very British comedy is about a divorcing couple (Rosamund Pike, David Tennant) taking their kids to see his father (Billy Connolly) one more time before he dies of cancer. The first half is part road trip and part bonding with dysfunctional family members, but then it turns darker when the grandfather dies at the beach and his young grandchildren decide to give him a Viking funeral. It's offbeat and aggressively quirky but at its best when Connolly is bonding with the children.
Golden Shoes (Anchor Bay/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, not rated). An 8-year-old boy (Christian Koza) dreams of playing professional soccer, and when he gets a pair of golden soccer shoes, he gains the confidence necessary to take his junior-league team to the finals. But will he be able to continue playing as well after he loses his shoes? Familiar supporting players in this family friendly comedy-drama include Eric Roberts, Montel Williams, Vivica A. Fox and John Rhys-Davies.
Manglehorn (IFC/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, trailer). Al Pacino stars in this low-key melodrama as a small-town Texas locksmith living as a recluse with little human contact, aside from his mostly absent son and a troubled old friend. But when a sweet, lonely bank teller (Holly Hunter) takes an interest in him, something in him begins to stir. It's uneven but bolstered by the two stars charisma.
Tibetan Warrior (Garden Thieves/DVD/Digital, 2015, deleted scenes, featurette, music video). This acclaimed documentary follows an impulsive trek by an exiled Tibetan musician living in Switzerland. Loten Namling is deeply disturbed by the self-destructive protests of his people against the Chinese, so he goes on a two-month journey to India to seek advice from the Dalai Lama.
The Only Real Game (Virgil/DVD/On Demand, 2015, not rated). Melissa Leo narrates this stirring documentary about the impoverished people, and especially women, of Manipur a remote area of Northeast India plagued by gun violence, drugs and AIDS. The focus is on their fascination with, and talent for, the game of baseball as a sort of stress-release valve and symbol of hope for a better tomorrow.
Tremors 5: Bloodlines (Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, deleted/extended scenes, featurette, bloopers). Michael Gross is back as Burt Gummer in this fifth installment of the comedy-horror franchise (11 years after No. 4). Following his success battling giant sandworms in the American Southwest, Mexico and Argentina, Burt has his own reality TV show. But when he learns of underground creatures threatening South Africa, he heads out to investigate, along with a new tech-savvy assistant (Jamie Kennedy).
Dark Places (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015; R for violence, language, drugs, sex; featurettes). Star power lifts this adaptation of a novel by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) but not enough to fill numerous plot holes and fuzzy logic. Charlize Theron is a despondent woman who, at age 8, witnessed the murder of her mother and two sisters, and she pointed to her older brother as the killer. But 28 years later, prodded by true-crime enthusiasts, she begins to have doubts. Co-stars include Corey Stoll, Nicholas Hoult, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christina Hendricks.
Final Girl (Cinedigm/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, R for violence and language, audio commentary, featurette, bloopers; postcard photo). Four upscale teenage boys engage in thrill killings by luring pretty blondes out on dates, taking them into the woods and then hunting them for sport. But when they choose Abigail Breslin as their next victim, they soon discover she wont be easy prey because shes a trained killer. Wes Bentley co-stars.
Insidious: Chapter 3 (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, featurettes). This prequel to the two previous Insidious films has teenager Quinn (Stefanie Scott) approaching a psychic to help her contact her dead mother, but when the psychic refuses, paranormal events begin to occur at home.
Escobar: Paradise Lost (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, R for violence, featurette). This fictionalized version of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Benicio Del Toro) and his downfall is told from the viewpoint of a young American surfer (Josh Hutcherson) who falls in love with Escobars niece (Claudia Traisac).
Air (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, PG-13, featurettes). An apocalyptic calamity has made Earths air unbreathable in this low-key paranoia thriller about two engineers (Djimon Hounsou, Norman Reedus) tasked with keeping the last members of humanity alive in suspended animation, though the isolation may be driving them mad.
The Anomaly (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated). A traumatized former soldier (Noel Clarke) that finds himself traveling through parallel dimensions, eventually discovering hes being manipulated by a mysterious team of conspirators in this Confused British sci-fi thriller. Co-stars include Ian Somerhalder, Alexis Knapp, Luke Hemsworth and Brian Cox.
The Timber (Well Go/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurette, trailer). In 1898 Alaska, two brothers are coerced into heading into the treacherous mountains during winter to execute a warrant for a killer. The bounty will save their familys ranch, but the killer they are pursuing is their own estranged father. Along the way, of course, they run into deadly snowstorms and even deadlier desperate men, including some that have resorted to cannibalism.
Ardor (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and sex, in Spanish with English subtitles, featurette). In the Argentinean rainforest, bandits burn down a farm and kidnap the familys attractive daughter (Alice Braga). A mysterious stranger (Gael Garcia Bernal) comes to the rescue, but in so doing ignites a game of cat and mouse with the bad guys.
The Target (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, in Korean with English subtitles, trailers). A former mercenary is living a reformed life when he is shot and framed for murder. A hospital intern helps him escape, but then the doctors wife is kidnapped, so the two men team up to rescue her and expose a conspiratorial plot that includes corrupt cops.
4Got10 (Cinedigm/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, deleted scenes, featurette). A man (Johnny Messner) wakes up in the desert surrounded by dead bodies and $4 million in cash and with no memory of who he is or what has happened. But that doesnt stop his being pursued by a drug lord (Danny Trejo), a DEA agent (Dolph Lundgren) and a corrupt sheriff (Michael Pare).
Eaters (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, trailers). In 1974, five friends take a road trip through New Mexico, but one of the group goes missing at a rest stop. Their search to find her leads to a biker gang and then a ghost town full of masked killers.
Alleluia (Doppelganger/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, in French with English subtitles, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). A plain, overweight nurse falls so madly in love with a gigolo that she abandons her children to follow him and ultimately helps him woo, marry and kill several wealthy women. It's a sordid Belgian thriller that is loosely based on the real-life 1940s Lonely-Hearts Killers case, which has previously been filmed at least three times, most notably as The Honeymoon Killers (1970).
We Are Still Here (Dark Sky/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurette, trailers). The setting is 1979 rural New England for this haunted house yarn. After the death of their son, a married couple (scream queen Barbara Crampton and Andrew Sensenig) move to a new area to heal, but the wife immediately feels the presence of their son in the home and enlists a psychic to make contact with him.
Dead Rising: Watchtower (Sony/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). A reporter and his camerawoman are trapped in a quarantined area when an anti-zombie vaccine fails and the undead run amok. This is the fourth film in the Dead Rising franchise, based on a video game, but the plot is set between the events of the series second and third films.
Last Shift (Magnet/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, featurettes, photo/poster galleries). A rookie cop (Juliana Harkavy) is assigned to stay at a shuttered police station until a Hazmat team arrives to collect biomedical evidence. But she discovers that the station has been haunted by the evil spirits of a cult leader and two followers ever since they committed suicide upon their arrest.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron (Marvel/Disney/Blu-ray 3-D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) inadvertently unleashes the title villain, Ultron (James Spader), which is bent on the extinction of the human race.
So Stark (aka Iron Man), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must put aside their differences, come together and save humanity.
It's highly entertaining, though everyone seems to agree that this second in The Avengers series is not quite up to the first film. But whatever disappointments fans may feel didnt hurt its box-office earnings. Its the years No. 2 hit, and thats not likely to change.
Batkid Begins (Warner/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG). You may be familiar with the central story at the heart of this uplifting, charming, sentimental documentary, but youll still find the film captivating. Make-A-Wish asked 5-year-old Miles Scott, who had been battling leukemia since he was 18 months old, what he would wish for, and he said he wanted to be Batkid. With help from social media, San Francisco was turned into Gotham City for a day, with thousands of strangers participating, as Miles was swept up in an adventure that made him Batmans sidekick.
When Marnie Was There (GKids/Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, in English or in Japanese with English subtitles, featurettes, storyboards, trailers). This gorgeously rendered Japanese animated feature is about Anna, a young girl with asthma whose foster parents send her to the seaside for the summer. There, she meets a mysterious girl named Marnie. They forge a bond, and eventually Anna discovers the secrets of her heritage. It's a warm, sentimental anime by Studio Ghibli that wont disappoint fans. English voices include Hailee Steinfeld, John C. Reilly, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Bates and Geena Davis.
What We Did On Our Holiday (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurette). This very British comedy is about a divorcing couple (Rosamund Pike, David Tennant) taking their kids to see his father (Billy Connolly) one more time before he dies of cancer. The first half is part road trip and part bonding with dysfunctional family members, but then it turns darker when the grandfather dies at the beach and his young grandchildren decide to give him a Viking funeral. It's offbeat and aggressively quirky but at its best when Connolly is bonding with the children.
Golden Shoes (Anchor Bay/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, not rated). An 8-year-old boy (Christian Koza) dreams of playing professional soccer, and when he gets a pair of golden soccer shoes, he gains the confidence necessary to take his junior-league team to the finals. But will he be able to continue playing as well after he loses his shoes? Familiar supporting players in this family friendly comedy-drama include Eric Roberts, Montel Williams, Vivica A. Fox and John Rhys-Davies.
Manglehorn (IFC/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, trailer). Al Pacino stars in this low-key melodrama as a small-town Texas locksmith living as a recluse with little human contact, aside from his mostly absent son and a troubled old friend. But when a sweet, lonely bank teller (Holly Hunter) takes an interest in him, something in him begins to stir. It's uneven but bolstered by the two stars charisma.
Tibetan Warrior (Garden Thieves/DVD/Digital, 2015, deleted scenes, featurette, music video). This acclaimed documentary follows an impulsive trek by an exiled Tibetan musician living in Switzerland. Loten Namling is deeply disturbed by the self-destructive protests of his people against the Chinese, so he goes on a two-month journey to India to seek advice from the Dalai Lama.
The Only Real Game (Virgil/DVD/On Demand, 2015, not rated). Melissa Leo narrates this stirring documentary about the impoverished people, and especially women, of Manipur a remote area of Northeast India plagued by gun violence, drugs and AIDS. The focus is on their fascination with, and talent for, the game of baseball as a sort of stress-release valve and symbol of hope for a better tomorrow.
Tremors 5: Bloodlines (Universal/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG-13, deleted/extended scenes, featurette, bloopers). Michael Gross is back as Burt Gummer in this fifth installment of the comedy-horror franchise (11 years after No. 4). Following his success battling giant sandworms in the American Southwest, Mexico and Argentina, Burt has his own reality TV show. But when he learns of underground creatures threatening South Africa, he heads out to investigate, along with a new tech-savvy assistant (Jamie Kennedy).
Dark Places (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015; R for violence, language, drugs, sex; featurettes). Star power lifts this adaptation of a novel by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) but not enough to fill numerous plot holes and fuzzy logic. Charlize Theron is a despondent woman who, at age 8, witnessed the murder of her mother and two sisters, and she pointed to her older brother as the killer. But 28 years later, prodded by true-crime enthusiasts, she begins to have doubts. Co-stars include Corey Stoll, Nicholas Hoult, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christina Hendricks.
Final Girl (Cinedigm/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, R for violence and language, audio commentary, featurette, bloopers; postcard photo). Four upscale teenage boys engage in thrill killings by luring pretty blondes out on dates, taking them into the woods and then hunting them for sport. But when they choose Abigail Breslin as their next victim, they soon discover she wont be easy prey because shes a trained killer. Wes Bentley co-stars.
Insidious: Chapter 3 (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG-13, deleted scenes, featurettes). This prequel to the two previous Insidious films has teenager Quinn (Stefanie Scott) approaching a psychic to help her contact her dead mother, but when the psychic refuses, paranormal events begin to occur at home.
Escobar: Paradise Lost (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, R for violence, featurette). This fictionalized version of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Benicio Del Toro) and his downfall is told from the viewpoint of a young American surfer (Josh Hutcherson) who falls in love with Escobars niece (Claudia Traisac).
Air (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, PG-13, featurettes). An apocalyptic calamity has made Earths air unbreathable in this low-key paranoia thriller about two engineers (Djimon Hounsou, Norman Reedus) tasked with keeping the last members of humanity alive in suspended animation, though the isolation may be driving them mad.
The Anomaly (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated). A traumatized former soldier (Noel Clarke) that finds himself traveling through parallel dimensions, eventually discovering hes being manipulated by a mysterious team of conspirators in this Confused British sci-fi thriller. Co-stars include Ian Somerhalder, Alexis Knapp, Luke Hemsworth and Brian Cox.
The Timber (Well Go/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurette, trailer). In 1898 Alaska, two brothers are coerced into heading into the treacherous mountains during winter to execute a warrant for a killer. The bounty will save their familys ranch, but the killer they are pursuing is their own estranged father. Along the way, of course, they run into deadly snowstorms and even deadlier desperate men, including some that have resorted to cannibalism.
Ardor (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and sex, in Spanish with English subtitles, featurette). In the Argentinean rainforest, bandits burn down a farm and kidnap the familys attractive daughter (Alice Braga). A mysterious stranger (Gael Garcia Bernal) comes to the rescue, but in so doing ignites a game of cat and mouse with the bad guys.
The Target (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, in Korean with English subtitles, trailers). A former mercenary is living a reformed life when he is shot and framed for murder. A hospital intern helps him escape, but then the doctors wife is kidnapped, so the two men team up to rescue her and expose a conspiratorial plot that includes corrupt cops.
4Got10 (Cinedigm/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, deleted scenes, featurette). A man (Johnny Messner) wakes up in the desert surrounded by dead bodies and $4 million in cash and with no memory of who he is or what has happened. But that doesnt stop his being pursued by a drug lord (Danny Trejo), a DEA agent (Dolph Lundgren) and a corrupt sheriff (Michael Pare).
Eaters (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, trailers). In 1974, five friends take a road trip through New Mexico, but one of the group goes missing at a rest stop. Their search to find her leads to a biker gang and then a ghost town full of masked killers.
Alleluia (Doppelganger/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, in French with English subtitles, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). A plain, overweight nurse falls so madly in love with a gigolo that she abandons her children to follow him and ultimately helps him woo, marry and kill several wealthy women. It's a sordid Belgian thriller that is loosely based on the real-life 1940s Lonely-Hearts Killers case, which has previously been filmed at least three times, most notably as The Honeymoon Killers (1970).
We Are Still Here (Dark Sky/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurette, trailers). The setting is 1979 rural New England for this haunted house yarn. After the death of their son, a married couple (scream queen Barbara Crampton and Andrew Sensenig) move to a new area to heal, but the wife immediately feels the presence of their son in the home and enlists a psychic to make contact with him.
Dead Rising: Watchtower (Sony/DVD/Digital, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). A reporter and his camerawoman are trapped in a quarantined area when an anti-zombie vaccine fails and the undead run amok. This is the fourth film in the Dead Rising franchise, based on a video game, but the plot is set between the events of the series second and third films.
Last Shift (Magnet/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence and language, featurettes, photo/poster galleries). A rookie cop (Juliana Harkavy) is assigned to stay at a shuttered police station until a Hazmat team arrives to collect biomedical evidence. But she discovers that the station has been haunted by the evil spirits of a cult leader and two followers ever since they committed suicide upon their arrest.
