New in Home Entertainment – September 17, 2013

New in Home Entertainment

September 17, 2013

World War Z
Rated PG-13 for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D

I don’t typically read books destined for theaters simply because it is rare for a movie to match up to the written word.  In the case of World War Z I made an exception and honestly, I’m not tremendously offended that the material didn’t match up.  They both tell the story of a world war vs a “zombie-like creature” but the monsters in both are very different as is the way they kill them.  The movie though is effective and there’s no doubt that Brad Pitt is perfect for the role and put his heart and soul into it.  Personally, I didn’t find the movie as scary as I had hoped and there were some really stupid scenes (such as the video of the WHO scientist handling the virus without protective gear), but the story worked for the most part and made for a nice thriller.  B

Behind the Candelabra
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray

Director Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon wasn’t originally destined for HBO but was found to be “too gay” for any of the distributors to take a risk with and thus ended up heading straight to television.  Of course now it’s been nominated for 15 Emmys, but what do the distributors know?  Sure it’s pretty eccentric but it’s also immensely interesting and the performances are off the charts.  Douglas is perfect as the fabulous piano virtuoso and Damon is scary good as his boyfriend.  And talk about a great script with tremendous production values.  If you don’t mind the subject, you’ll probably enjoy this little indie quite a lot.  A-