New in Home Entertainment
August 26, 2014
The Normal Heart
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This HBO feature film, which has won and will continue to sweep its award categories for made for TV movie, tells the story of the beginning of the AIDS crisis in New York City through the eyes of the physician (Julia Roberts) and the journalist (Mark Ruffalo) who attempted to bring the disease to the nation’s attention. There’s no doubt that this is a powerful piece of filmmaking by some brave and talented artists. While the story has been told before and in many different ways, this story still comes across as original, sad and triumphant. That being said, the film is very sexually graphic and even I was rather uncomfortable during some of the scenes. So while I can appreciate the film for what it is, it’s also not exactly a favorite that I will want to reach for again. B+
Blended
Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Audiences apparently love to see Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore together on screen so much that Warner Brothers thought it a good idea to approve this deplorable script about a lonely father of three girls who finds himself on an African vacation with a lonely mother of two boys. It’s hard enough that there isn’t a genuine or organic moment in the entire film, but to add salt to the wound there isn’t a laugh to be found either. The filmmakers seem almost too desperate to make the reunion work, leaving the audience in pain as they watch. This is a special kind of bad movie that should be the crowned king at this year’s Golden Raspberries. F
Y Tu Mama También : The Criterion Edition
Rated R for strong sexual content involving teens, drug use and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron’s breathtaking erotic drama about a middle-aged woman who goes on a road trip with two young men to find a mythical beach in Mexico was so good that he was next offered to direct the third chapter of the Harry Potter series, The Prisoner of Azkaban. While a little young for a Criterion release, it fits the mold perfectly as a revolutionary and game changing movie. This new edition features a restored 2K digital transfer as well as the host of new special features you would expect from Criterion. A
Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete Series
Available on DVD
Sometimes you get pretty arrogant when it comes to the television programs and movies you enjoy and remember enjoying from your childhood. Then you take a look at one of your old favorites, here that would be Welcome Back Kotter, and you quickly realize that yes, you once enjoyed bad television also. This high school comedy, which served as the vehicle to launch John Travolta’s career, isn’t as funny as I once remembered, but it did serve as a slap across the face of good old fashioned nostalgia and a touch of humility as well that will be remembered the next time I blast someone else’s television favorites. B-