Since new DVDs and Blu-rays aren't out until tomorrow, I think I snuck last week's in just under the wire. Among the latest releases are several recent HBO releases, some cult classics, some tv and an Academy Award winning foreign film that might just break your heart.
Fire up that queue and prep that shopping cart. It's that time of the week.
Amour
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| Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Released 8/20/13 |
George and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day Anne has an attack and the couple’s bond of love is severely tested. Extras include featurette and Q & A with director Michael Haneke.
The Last Word: Winner of Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film, it's pretty easy to assume that Amour is good, and it is. It's also one of the most honest and heartbreaking films of recent memory. I watched my father suffer and pass away from Alzheimer's complications and Amour was the closest thing I've seen that recalls frustration, helplessness and heartbreak that results from a loved one slowly suffering. The notion of trusting a paid employee to care about someone you love with the same commitment and understanding is both the core of the film and a parallel to real life. The performances are amazing and the film resonates long after the credits roll. Highest recommendation possible. Tissues are mandatory.
Star Trek: Enterprise - Complete Second Season
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| Paramount / Released 8/20/13 |
In the 22nd century, a hundred years before James T. Kirk helmed the famous starship of the same name, Enterprise takes place in an era when interstellar travel is still in its infancy. Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) has assembled a crew of brave explorers to chart the galaxy on a revolutionary spacecraft: Enterprise NX-01. As the first human beings to venture into deep space, these pioneers experience the wonder and mystery of the final frontier as they seek out new life and new civilizations. Extras include deleted scenes, commentary, cast reunion interview, featurettes, and documentary
Last Word: In many ways, the last Star Trek series to air on television does the best job since the original season with the theme of exploration as the original Enterprise explores strange new worlds and seeks out new lives and civilizations. The cast works together extremely well with a refreshingly believable camaraderie and genuine chemistry. Underrated and underappreciated by Star Trek fans, there's actually some clever writing and some memorable episodes Season two episodes include "Shockwave, Part II", "Carbon Creek", "Minefield", "Dead Stop", "A Night in Sickbay", "Marauders", "The Seventh", "The Communicator", "Singularity", "Vanishing Point", "Precious Cargo", "The Catwalk", "Dawn", "Stigma", "Cease Fire", "Future Tense", "Canamar", "The Crossing", "Judgment", "Horizon", "The Breach", "Cogenitor", "Regeneration", "First Flight", "Bounty", and "The Expanse". Enterprise - Complete Second Season is good, but gets better as the season goes on, successfully setting up the remaining two seasons as truly exciting adventure television.
Scary Movie 5
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| Weinstein Company / Released 8/20/13 |
Home with their newly-formed family, happy parents Dan and Jody are haunted by sinister, paranormal activities -- disrupting new mama Jody's dancing aspirations in the ''Swan Lake'' ballet and threatening Dan's rise as an ape researcher. Determined to expel the insidious force, they install security cameras and discover their family is being stalked by an evil dead demon! The latest installment of the Scary Movie franchise includes hilarious, non-stop send ups of some of the biggest recent cinematic hits and pop culture, featuring Ashley Tisdale, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Katt Williams, Katrina Bowden, Kate Walsh, Heather Locklear and Mike Tyson. Extras include Deleted And Extended Scenes.
Last Word: Any movie that has you longing for the return of the Shawn and Marlon Wayans is never a good sign. Unfunny and basically terrible. Skip it.
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