Category Archives: DVDs

Feb 12 2014
Leave a comment
DVDs, Movies

Living for ‘Now’

Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley star in coming-of-age charmer

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now

Blu-ray $24.99 / DVD $19.99 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

A charming, popular, live-for-the-moment high school senior Sutter (Miles Teller) falls for the shy, studious “girl next door” dreamer Aimee (Shailene Woodley) in this film-festival coming-of-age charmer that broke into the mainstream last summer. Can Sutter see past his “spectacular now” to what might lie ahead, both good and bad? Based on popular young-adult novel by Tim Tharp, it’s a sharp, soulful teen movie that tells it like it is, with a strong supporting cast (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyle Chandler, Brie Larson, and Bob Odenkirk from TV’s Breaking Bad). Bonus features include a four-part making-of feature, deleted scenes and commentary.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Feb 05 2014
Leave a comment
DVDs

Sea Man

Robert Redford goes it alone in a salty ocean saga

All is Lost

All Is Lost

Blu-ray $29.99, DVD $26.98 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

Robert Redford is a standout—and a stand-alone—in this amazing drama about an unnamed man, alone on a sailboat, after his craft is catastrophically damaged hundreds of miles from shore. He’s the only actor, there’s almost no dialog, and the story becomes a moving, mesmerizing, elemental saga of water, wind and the will to survive. Can he make it to the commercial shipping lanes before his meager supplies run out? Will anyone even know he’s in trouble? And what about those sharks? Extras include commentary with writer/director/producer J.C. Chandor and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , ,
Jan 28 2014
1 Comment
DVDs, Movies

Life in the Fast Lane

Director Ron Howard’s ’70s racing rivalry is a hip, sexy crowd pleaser

Rush

Rush

Blu-ray + DVD $34.98 / DVD $19.96 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

Director Ron Howard’s thrilling recreation of the real-life rivalry between two 1970s professional racecar drivers, English daredevil playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and straight-laced Australian Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), is a hip, cool-running crowd-pleaser set in the daring, dangerous golden age of Grand Prix racing. Olivia Wilde has a knockout supporting role as a globetrotting fashion model, and generous bonus features on the Blu-ray combo include a several mini-documentaries, including one on how Howard and his crew created the illusion of filming all over the world while shooting mostly in the United Kingdom, and another on the movie’s sexy flashback style.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 17 2014
Leave a comment
DVDs, Movies

Ahoy, Captain!

Tom Hanks stars in gripping true tale of modern-day piracy

Captain_Phillips

Captain Phillips

Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Combo $40.99 / DVD $30.99 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Tom Hanks stars in this gripping, critically lauded thriller about the hijacking of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates and its daring rescue by the U.S. Navy. Based on a real 2009 incident, it’s a knockout performance for Hanks, who adds yet another notch to his formidable acting belt—but it’s a propulsive breakout for Oscar-nominated newcomer Barkhad Abdi, who, as leader of the ragtag Somali hijackers, conveys an urgency and desperation essential to the movie’s emotional tug-of-war. Extras include a three-part, behind-the-scenes look at the production and the true events on which the story was based, and commentary by director Paul Greengrass.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , ,
Jan 10 2014
Leave a comment
DVDs, Music, Pop Culture

Inside Job

The riveting story of The Beatles’ loyal, longtime secretary

GoodOlFreda

Good Ol’ Freda

DVD ($29.98, Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Fans of the Fab Four will flip their Beatle wigs over this 2013 film-fest documentary hit about the shy Liverpool teenager who was hired to work for a local band with no idea that they’d go on to become legends—or that she’d remain their loyal, steadfast secretary until the end. For the first time in 50 years, Freda Kelly tells her story in director Ryan White’s riveting, revealing look at the unassuming young woman who rode out the hurricane of Beatlemania deep on the inside, the witness to a musical revolution whose job afforded her one of the most unique perspectives in all of rock and roll.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , ,
Jan 03 2014
Leave a comment
DVDs

Meanwhile, Up in the Sky…

Matt Damon stars in gritty, gripping sci-fi parable

ELYSIUM_cov

Elysium

Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack $40.99 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Matt Damon, Sharlito Copley and Jodie Foster star in this ripping, gripping sci-fi parable set in the year 2154, when the wealthy, healthy elite on a pristine,  space station, Elysium, are kept far and away from everyone else back on overpopulated, disease-ridden, used-up Earth. After an Earth worker (Damon) is exposed to a deadly dose of radiation, he risks what’s left of his life to get treatment on Elysium—then finds out there’s something even bigger, and more mind-boggling, at stake. Extras include an inside look at the dazzling special effects, at various stages of the mega-production.

 — Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , ,
Dec 30 2013
Leave a comment
DVDs, Pop Culture, Television

Urkel Works It

By season four, his nerd-next-door was the star of ‘Family Matters’

Family Matters Season 4

Family Matters: The Complete Fourth Season

DVD ($29.98, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

Part of ABC-TV’s Friday-night lineup for nine seasons between 1989 and 1998, this hit comedy series revolved around a suburban Chicago family and their nerdy next-door neighbor, Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), who became the most popular character on the show. In this three-disc roundup of all 24 episodes from 1992-93, Urkel gets an accordion-playing girlfriend, takes driving lessons, competes on TV’s American Gladiators, camps out on a rooftop to woo a sweetie, has a superglue mishap and performs an accidental striptease, among other sitcom hijinks.

 —Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , ,
Dec 16 2013
Leave a comment
DVDs

Dark as a Dungeon

Twisty, turn-y thriller poses provocative question

Prisoners

Prisoners

DVD $28.98 / Blu-ray $35.99 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

How far is too far to go when the law doesn’t go far enough? That’s the provocative question this gripping crime thriller asks as Hugh Jackman portrays a distraught father who takes matters into his own hands and hunts down the man (Paul Dano) he believes is responsible for abducting his young daughter and her friend. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the police detective drawn ever deeper into an increasingly dark, twisted case, and Mario Bello, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, and Melissa Leo round out the solid cast.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Dec 16 2013
Leave a comment
DVDs, Pop Culture, Television

One of the Good Guys

Box set collection celebrates Gene Autry’s 1950s television show

TheGeneAutryShow_CompleteTVSeries

The Gene Autry Show: The Complete Television Series

DVD ($79.99, Timeless Media Group)

The most successful singing cowboy of them all, Autry’s multi-media empire spanned radio, music, movies, television and live performance—he’s the only entertainer with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame for each. This deluxe 15-disc roundup of his 1950-1956 TV series also includes a corral full of bonus content: TV commercials, episodes of his Melody Ranch radio show, film trailers, photos, and segments from some of his other television shows. But what’s really cool is watching the parade of guest stars, a Who’s Who of ’the 50s West: Denver Pyle, Clayton Lone Ranger Moore, Alan Hale Jr., Lee Van Cleef, Chill Wills and many others, dustin’ it up with one of Hollywood’s all-time good guys.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , , , ,
Dec 16 2013
1 Comment
DVDs, Music, Pop Culture

They Shall Be Released

Springsteen, Sting, other stars headline for Amnesty International

Layout 1

Released! The Human Rights Concerts

DVD $59.98 (Shout! Factory)

 

Between 1986 and 1998, Amnesty International staged several massive concert events to raise awareness and funds for human rights, featuring some of the biggest musical stars of the times. Now all those shows have been released on DVD, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the concert series’ highest-profile event, the “Human Rights Now!” world tour headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Tracey Chapman. Other performers featured in the nearly 17 hours of concert footage (most of it never before made commercially available) include U2, The Police, Bryan Adams, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Sinead O’Connor, Radiohead, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Carlos Santana and Shania Twain, and net proceeds from sales of the box set, just like proceeds from the original shows, go to the ongoing work of Amnesty International.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →