New in Home Entertainment
August 5, 2014
Need for Speed
Rated PG-13 for sequences of reckless street racing, disturbing crash sequences, nudity and crude language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Based on the highly successful video game, Need for Speed follows Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul as he attempts to join a highly secretive street race worth millions of dollars to the winner. While I admire the fact that the project has a great deal of integrity and that everyone involved took the movie seriously, its hard to get past the fact that it still feels like dumb, mindless entertainment. There’s no doubt that Paul is a talented actor, but he needs better projects than this if he wants to evolve into the movie world. C
Community: The Complete Fifth Season
Available on DVD
I am so surprised that this NBC sitcom has survived this long. While the first season was a tough one to get through, and number four was even worse, the show has picked up steam with season five, probably from show runner Dan Harmon’s return, and offers up a lot more in the laughter department than I expected. That being said, the show feels like something you might watch in syndication if there’s nothing else on, but its hardly something you dive into for a good binge watch. C+
Herzog: The Collection
Available on Blu-ray
German director Werner Herzog is one of the most prolific and eccentric filmmakers of the last half century. Racking up 67 directing credits according to IMDB, the man has been a busy one and this new set includes a wide swath in order judge his work by. Including 16 of his acclaimed features and documentaries from the 70s and 80s, many for the first time on Blu-ray, the set is an exhaustive look at his work. And by exhaustive, I mean that if you go through even half of them in a short period of time you will be completely exhausted. While his films are interesting for sure, they are also sometimes disturbing and his all too familiar voice is something that should only be experienced in small doses. Still, this is a great tribute to a very talented and risky filmmaker that loves to show us a view of the world that is hardly ever seen elsewhere in motion pictures. B+