New in Home Entertainment
June 6, 2017
Beauty and the Beast
Rated PG for some action, violence, peril and frightening images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Next on Disney’s live-action remake list is this take on their classic tale of a spoiled prince who is transformed into a beast with his only hope being to fall in love and have someone love him in return. With an all-star cast led by Emma Watson as the smart-as-she-is-beautiful Belle, the story is well-served by many actors who turn out to be more than decent singers. While all of the main songs from the movie are included here, rather than throw in songs from the Tony award-winning Broadway show, Disney wrote many brand-new tunes for this remake. While some of the new songs are solid, I would have preferred the Broadway versions as the music for the show is far superior. Overall, this version is hit and miss for me. I’m glad they got creative with the story and I can appreciate the changes, but this is by far my third favorite Beauty and the Beast production from Disney. That being said, it gets the job done in a grand fashion that helps you forgive its flaws. B
Land of Mine
Rated R for violence, some grisly images, and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
In German and Danish with English Subtitles
This Oscar-nominated foreign film tells the story takes places directly after WWII and follows a Danish officer who is placed in charge of a POW camp that forces young German captive soldiers to disarm the thousands of land mines scattered throughout the Danish beaches. What I liked most about this film is that it provides a fresh take on the war with a compelling story we’ve never heard before. They treat it like a story which really needs to be told, with the resonating message being that not everybody we fight in a war is an enemy to us afterward. That we are all humans after all, soldier or not, and in many cases pawns in a larger chess game acting against our own self-interests until true freedom is acquired. It’s a tightly paced, focused film that proves, once again, that there are an endless number of stories about the Great War that still want to be told. A-