New in Home Entertainment
November 18, 2014
22 Jump Street
Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, drug material, brief nudity and some violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Beginning where 21 Jump Street left off, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum move onto college to solve another drug investigation. I have to admit that I loved 21 Jump Street. I found it to be fresh, wildly creative and extremely funny. That being said, I liked this adventure even more. The comedy is pretty broad here and really anyone can enjoy the hijinx, but for those that understand screenwriting and movie formulas, the film is extended to new heights. Here they essentially take the Romantic Comedy handbook and attempt to recreate the beats, all the while telling you they are doing it. Personally I found this to be both clever and intellectually stimulating, neither of which is a word I would have ever thought could describe a Jump Street film. It knows it is stupid, and revels in it. It parodies not only other buddy, college and rom com films, but finds a way to parody itself at the same time. This makes for one heck of an entertaining farce. A-
Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For
Rated R for strong brutal stylized violence throughout, sexual content, nudity, and brief drug use
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s second outing into the Sin City universe follows heroes both old and new in violent and somewhat filthy adventures about the mythical city’s underworld. Out of place is the title character, played by Jessica Alba, who is just not sordid enough to be playing this kind of depraved character. On the other hand, Eva Green is perfection as the conniving and manipulating witch that takes on more than she can handle. I really liked the first Sin City but honestly, this one just feels like more of the same. What I did really love here was the 3D which looked amazing in the theater and pops even better at home. Visually, this movie has got it going on. C+
The Dark Half
Rated R for violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Twenty-one years ago Night of the Living Dead director George Romero took on Stephen King’s twisted book The Dark Half and it is finally making its blu-ray debut this week. Timothy Hutton is Thad Beaumont, best selling author of horror books he has written under the name George Stark. When he decides to kill off Stark as a publicity stunt, Stark literally comes to life in an attempt to take over his own fate. To this day this is still one of the scariest books I’ve ever read and although I haven’t revisited the movie since it was in theaters a half of my lifetime ago, I still find it a chillingly good time. A-
It Happened One Night: Criterion Collection
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Only three films in history have won the top five Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay): 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, and this little gem from 1934 directed by Frank Capra starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in one of the first and still one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. While it’s nice to have some of the new special features you would expect from a Criterion release, what matters most is the beautiful 4K digital restoration. The loving spit and polish applied here gives a magnificent version of the film like you’ve never seen it before. It almost makes it hard to believe that the movie is eighty years old. A+