New in Home Entertainment
June 2, 2014
Jupiter Ascending
Rated PG-13 for some violence, sequences of sci-fi action, some suggestive content and partial nudity
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
The Wachowski siblings have always pushed the limits of storytelling and special effects in their various projects since they made The Matrix back in 1999. In Jupiter Ascending, Mila Kunis is a young immigrant house cleaner who discovers that she is actually the reincarnated form of an intergalactic queen who must save Earth from her evil children who plan to harvest the planet for sinister purposes. While there are definitely some plot holes and a few cheesy moments, I thought for sure, upon leaving the theater, that this would be a huge hit. Overall I found the movie to be a fun, witty and entertaining piece of sci-fi. But I have to admit that most folks (especially other critics) have quite the opposite opinion and the film ended up being a complete dud at the box office. My advice would be to check it out anyway. You just might find yourself having a blast like I did. B+
Spring
Not Rated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Exclusively available at Best Buy
Spring tells the tale of a young man, who upon losing his mother to cancer, decides to take a trip to Italy in an attempt to help him move on. Upon settling on what I can only assume is Cinque Terre, he falls in love with a beautiful young woman who is hiding the secret that she is actually a Jeckyl and Hyde-like monster trying to overcome her disease. While not overly scary, the film is wonderfully interesting and beautiful to look at. With such a tiny budget, the filmmakers were able to put together a terrific leading man and woman with some rather disturbing and well-crafted creature effects and a story straight out of the X-Files. This is a gem for those of you in need of a great midnight movie. B
McFarland, USA
Rated PG
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Based on a true story, Kevin Costner plays the legendary high school coach Jim White, who brought the first ever cross-country track program to the small, mostly latino farming town of McFarland, California. These kinds of stories always come off as a little corny, merely because its hard for them to not be overly earnest in their storytelling. But with Costner on board, the movie has a lot more weight than you would expect and ends up being a nice little inspirational, family-friendly sports movie. B-
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge out of Water
Rated PG for mild action and rude humor
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
In this newest Spongebob adventure, the titular character finds himself and his friends entering the real world in order to track down a loopy pirate (Antonio Banderas) who stole the coveted Krabby Patty recipe. I’ve never been much of a fan of Spongebob. I can appreciate the humor, but the weirdness just seemed too forced and extremely annoying. And to make matters worse, the movie is stretched out to an extreme length. They sell the film like it mostly takes place in the real world, but just to get to that point, you have to wade through an awful and awfully long underwater cartoon experience. And while technically PG, I didn’t find it to be terribly kid-friendly. While most young kids won’t get the dirty jokes and the sexual references, I have no idea why they needed to be in there in the first place. C-
Focus
Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Will Smith stars in this story about a con man who runs a large organization of advanced-level street thieves who go from city to city to separate average folks from their money and jewelry. To fully fill you in on the whole story, I would need a lot more words and risk some big spoilers, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. I found the first half very interesting, and the second half too much of a con that just feels too inauthentic. As a warning about thieves in the world such as this, I feel like part of the movie was worth my time. But then it felt like part of my time was stolen from me also. C+