This week’s major studio release is Dreamworks Animation’s Home, a sci-fi family movie about a young black girl and an alien. Though Genevieve Koski originally wrote that Home “seems intent on being as inoffensive and unmemorable as possible,” the unique quality of having a black girl as the lead paired with an alien voiced by an openly gay man makes Home at least unusual in the realm of animated films. Generally, Home was regarded as unambitious and conventional, but entertaining when you don’t expect too much.
The indie world more than makes up for this week’s lack of high profile studio releases. White God, a not-so-family-friendly sociopolitical parable of a lost doggy trying to find his owner, and the girl who lost him, finds its way to both DVD and Blu-Ray. I fell in love with White God, considering it one of the best films of the year. Using genre set-ups over and over again, Mundruczo puts the lead dog through as much hell as we regularly put humans through, finding new depths to old tropes simply by using an innocent animal.
One of the worst movies of the year also makes it to Blu and DVD, Russell Crowe’s vanity project The Water Diviner follows Russell Crowe as the father of two kids who go to war in the Battle of Gallipoli and die. After an afternoon golden hour outdoor shower, and spurned by his wife committing suicide by pulling an Ophelia, Crowe finally gets off his ass and goes to Turkey to find the sons. Suddenly, almost everybody loves Crowe (and if they don’t, they’re EEEEVVVIIILLLL) and wants to help him find his sons (never mind that they may also have lost somebody). Oh, did I forget to mention that there was an Armenian genocide happening at the time? So does Crowe. It’s a gross and ugly piece of vanity that’s almost hilarious in its ineptitude. Lest you think this is just me blowing hard, Tobias gave it 1.5 stars and called it “tacky.”
And, an extremely intriguing near miss comes out this week. 52 Tuesdays was an experimental film made over the course of 52 weeks, filmed only on a Tuesday, following a mother who decides to become a man and gives up custody of his daughter while he deals with the complicated emotions of changing. I say near miss because the conceit of 52 Tuesdays would lend itself to following a person actually going through a transition on screen filmed over a year. But, the actor who plays the transitioning parent had already transitioned prior to the filming and the visual change becomes much less powerful than what it should have been. Still, there’s a lot of amazing content as Sophie Hyde isn’t just concerned with the parent but also the daughter’s not-always-pretty emotional reaction. This feels like an honest movie even if it didn’t completely gel.
Blu-Ray and DVD
- 009 Re: Cyborg
- Chicago Blackhawks: NHL 2015 Stanley Cup Champions
- The Erotic Rits of Frankenstein
- Golden State Warriors: NBA 2015 Champions
- Helix: Season 2
- Home
- Inari Kon Kon: The Complete Series
- Justice League: Gods and Monsters
- Life on the Reef
- Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau
- Miracle Mile
- Three Hearts
- The Water Diviner
- White God
- WWE: The KLIQ Rules
Blu Ray Only
- Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
- Cherry 2000
- Ghost Town
- Hollow Triumph
- Monte Walsh
- Prime Cut
- Zone Troopers
DVD Only
- 52 Tuesdays
- Ancient Roads: From Christ to Constantine
- Barnacle Bill
- Beat the Devil
- Big Jack
- The Bugle Sounds
- Churchmen: Season 1
- Comet
- Dawn of the Crescent Moon
- Descendents
- Frontline: Outbreak
- Glass Chin
- The Homefront
- Invisible Centerfolds
- Israel & New Breed: Covered Alive in Asia
- Jackass Mail
- Kaboul Kitchen: Season 1
- Kid Blue
- Mama’s Family: Mama’s Favorites: Season 6
- Mr. Right
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 XXXIII
- Naruto Shippuden Box Set 23
- Our Daily Poison
- Revenge of the Mekons
- Runoff
- She Loves Me Not
- Strangler of the Tower / Monster of London
- Tango of Perversion
- When the Legends Die
