DISCussion: New on DVD and Blu-ray (2.24.15)
"New on DVD and Blu-ray this week!"
We have some Oscar winners new on DVD this week, including
Big Hero 6 and its connected short film
Feast, and our pick for Recommendation of the Week, Damien Chazelle's riveting
Whiplash.
New Release:
Whiplash – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Big Hero 6 – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Beyond the Lights – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Code Black – (DVD and Instant)
Horrible Bosses 2 – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Re-Release:
Fellini Satyricon (1969) – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Watership Down (1978) – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Whiplash – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant) *Recommendation of the Week*
Directed and written by Damien Chazelle
Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
Damien Chazelle's directorial debut is the story of talent vs. teaching in the battle for excellence. While attending a prestigious New York music academy, Andrew (Teller) is offered up a spot in Terrence Fletcher's (Simmons) incredibly exclusive studio band. Pushed to his limits, Andrew is forced to endure Fletcher's brutally abusive tirades, in a constant struggle for greatness. What results is an elegantly-crafted first effort from Chazelle, and a film that is perhaps the most terrifying of 2014.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 95% (Excellent)
Metacritic: 88 (Excellent)
IMDB: 8.6 (Superb)
Entertainment Fuse: 8.8/10
DISC DETAILS
Amazon: $16.99 (Blu-ray);
$14.99 (DVD);
$4.99/$12.99 (Instant Rent/ Buy)
Big Hero 6 – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams
Written by Jordan Roberts (screenplay), Daniel Gerson (screenplay), Robert L. Baird (screenplay), Duncan Rouleau (based on characters created by), Steven T. Seagle (based on characters created by), Paul Briggs (head of story), and Joseph Mateo (head of story)
Starring: Ryan Pitter, TJ Miller, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung
And the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature goes to...
Big Hero 6 won HUGE this weekend, taking home a golden statue. Marvel and Disney's first dual effort follows Hiro Hamada (Potter) and his robot Baymax (Adsit), as they assemble a team of tech-saavy warriors to help fight against San Fransokyo's greatest enemy.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 90% (Excellent)
Metacritic: 74 (Very Good)
IMDB: 8.0 (Excellent)
Entertainment Fuse: 10/10 (Read our
Review)
DISC DETAILS
Special Features: Feast (Oscar-Winning Animated short film); “The Origin of
Big Hero 6: Hiro's Journey” making of featurette; “Big Animator 6: The Characters Behind the Characters” featurette; Deleted Scenes; “Big Hero Secrets” Easter Egg; Teaser Trailer
Amazon: $18.90 (Blu-ray);
$14.99 (DVD);
$14.99 (Instant Buy)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content: 4 stars(out of 5); Video: 5 stars; Audio: 5 stars; Extras: 3 stars; Replay: 4 stars. Highly Recommended.
Beyond the Lights – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Directed and written by Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker, Minnie Driver
Beyond the Lights is the non-traditional love story between famous singer, Noni (Mbatha-Raw), and a police officer assigned to protect her, Kaz (Parker) – so maybe more
Bodyguard ripoff than “non-traditional love story.” Just as her meteoric rise to fame has begin to cloud Noni's worldview, Kaz's love grounds her in her humble roots, and helps her to find her own, unique voice.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 81% (Very Good)
Metacritic: 73 (Very Good)
IMDB: 6.7 (Good)
Entertainment Fuse: 8/10
DISC DETAILS
Amazon: $19.96 (Blu-ray);
$14.96 (DVD);
$3.99/$12.99 (Instant Rent/ Buy)
Code Black – (DVD and Instant)
Directed by Ryan McGarry
Written by Ryan McGarry and Joshua Altman
Physician/filmmaker Ryan McGarry gives his audience unprecedented access to America's busiest ER in this gripping documentary. Battling against restrictive governmental healthcare regulations, and fighting a constant battle against horrific injuries and illnesses, the doctors of the LA County Hospital Emergency Room occupy one of the harshest environments in modern medicine.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 91% (Excellent)
Metacritic: 77 (Very Good)
IMDB: 6.5 (Good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon: $22.99 (DVD);
$3.99/$9.99 (Instant Rent/ Buy)
Horrible Bosses 2 – (Blu-ray, DVD and Instant)
Directed by Sean Anders
Written by Sean Anders (screenplay and story), John Morris (screenplay and story), Jonathan M Goldstein (story), and Michael Markowitz (characters)
Starring: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day
The sequel to
Horrible Bosses finds our three (supposedly boss-less) heroes aggressively perusing their own business. When a nefarious investor comes along, the three believe they have finally made it, before discovering that they have just been ripped off. In line with the first, the trio team up with seedy criminal Dean “MF” Jones (Jamie Foxx), and become involved in, yet another, senseless enterprise.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 35% (Very Bad)
Metacritic: 40Very Bad)
IMDB: 6.5 (Good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon: $22.99 (Blu-ray);
$14.99 (DVD);
$3.99/$14.99 (Instant Rent/ Buy)
Fellini Satyricon (1969) – (Criterion Blu-ray)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Petronius (book), Federico Fellini (adaptation and screenplay), Bernardino Zapponi (adaptation and screenplay), and Brunello Rondi (additional screenplay)
Starring: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born
Fellini's vivid, yet disorienting adaptation of Petronius' Roman satire. Following the sexual conquests of two young men, Fellini's film takes his trademark eccentricities to a whole new level.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 78% (Good at 18 reviews)
IMDB: 6.9 (Good)
DISC DETAILS
Special Features: 4K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray; Audio commentary featuring an adaptation of Eileen Lanouette Hughes’s memoir
On the Set of “Fellini Satyricon”: A Behind-the-Scenes Diary; Ciao, Federico!, Gideon Bachmann’s hour-long documentary shot on the set of
Fellini Satyricon; Archival interviews with director Federico Fellini; New interview with Rotunno; New documentary about Fellini’s adaptation of Petronius’s work, featuring interviews with classicists Luca Canali, a consultant on the film, and Joanna Paul; New interview with photographer Mary Ellen Mark about her experiences on the set and her iconic photographs of Fellini and his film;
Felliniana, a presentation of
Fellini Satyricon ephemera from the collection of Don Young; Trailer; New English subtitle translation; PLUS: An essay by film scholar Michael Wood
Amazon: $29.99 (Criterion Blu-ray)
Watership Down (1978) – (Criterion Blu-ray)
Directed by Martin Rosen
Written by Richard Adams (novel) and Martin Rosen
Starring: John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson
When a group of rabbits sense an oncoming doom, they are forced to flee the safety of their hutch. Facing many obstacles along the way, the fleeing rabbits test their “God-given” gifts of speed, hearing, and digging to escape a myriad of predators. Still receiving angry letters to this day, the British Film Board of Classification's decision to give the very true-to-life
Watership Down a “PG” rating, has earned it the title of being the most violent and bloody PG animated movie of all time.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 82% (Very Good at 23 reviews)
IMDB: 7.7 (Very Good)
Entertainment Fuse: 7.5/10
DISC DETAILS
Special Features: High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray; New interview with director Martin Rosen; New interview with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro about the film’s importance in animation history; Picture-in-picture storyboards for the entire film (Blu-ray);
Defining a Style, a 2005 featurette about the film’s aesthetic; Trailer; PLUS: An essay by comic book writer Gerard Jones
Amazon: $27.59 (Criterion Blu-ray)