Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, a vehicle for comic actor Kevin James, is on Blu-ray and DVD this week, along with a few other hit-and-miss new movies.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Columbia/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, deleted scenes, featurettes, bloopers, photo gallery). Kevin James most famous for his long-running sitcom The King of Queens stars in this innocuous sequel (who knew he had a franchise going?). And like the first Paul Blart: Mall Cop, this is a family friendly farce, which in itself is all too rare these days.
This time Blart goes to Vegas, takes on a bunch of bad guys, and finds time to bond with his teenage daughter. Cute, and generally inoffensive, though there are a few mildly vulgar gags. But, of course, they had to throw those in or the film might have received horrors! a G rating.
Black Beauty (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, featurette). Back in 1994, I reviewed a very good version of Black Beauty and before that there were at least seven film adaptations of Anna Sewells classic novel. But this straight-to-video remake is more like National Velvet (minus the steeplechase) relocated to rural America. The credits say its inspired by the novel as a 15-year-old girl (Jennifer McKenzie) nurtures an abused horse after talking her grandfather (Bruce Davison) into helping her adopt him. Luke Perry co-stars as her father.
Clouds of Sils Maria (Paramount/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, R for language and nudity). Indulgent inside-show-biz melodrama explores the familiar idea of the thin line that separates art and reality, method and madness (compared by some critics to Birdman). Excellent performances highlight this moody tale of aging actress Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) and her increasingly volatile relationship with her personal assistant (Kristen Stewart) as she prepares for a stage version of the film that made her a star at age 18. But now shes playing an older character, with a younger actress and paparazzi magnet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking on the role Maria once had. Beautiful cinematography in the Swiss Alps includes an especially striking cloud formation known as the Maloja Snake (which is also the title of the play).
It Follows (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; audio commentary, featurette, trailer, poster gallery). At a time when horror movies are mostly about found footage or gory shock effects, this one at least tries something different, extending the genres trope about sexually promiscuous teens being primary slasher-film victims. Here, that promiscuity passes on a haunting presence that stalks the victim until he/she passes it onto another, a metaphor for STDs in the freewheeling 21st century.
Goodbye to All That (IFC/DVD, 2015, not rated, trailer). Profane comedy-drama stars Paul Schneider (TVs Parks and Recreation) as a runner who injures his foot, then his wife (Melanie Lynskey) leaves him and then he loses his job. Hes pretty clumsy and clueless but manages to (pretty unbelievably) use social media to hook up with a string of very attractive women for one-night stands before reuniting with his first love. Raunchy low-budget indie flick co-stars Heather Graham and Amy Sedaris.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Columbia/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, deleted scenes, featurettes, bloopers, photo gallery). Kevin James most famous for his long-running sitcom The King of Queens stars in this innocuous sequel (who knew he had a franchise going?). And like the first Paul Blart: Mall Cop, this is a family friendly farce, which in itself is all too rare these days.
This time Blart goes to Vegas, takes on a bunch of bad guys, and finds time to bond with his teenage daughter. Cute, and generally inoffensive, though there are a few mildly vulgar gags. But, of course, they had to throw those in or the film might have received horrors! a G rating.
Black Beauty (Lionsgate/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, PG, featurette). Back in 1994, I reviewed a very good version of Black Beauty and before that there were at least seven film adaptations of Anna Sewells classic novel. But this straight-to-video remake is more like National Velvet (minus the steeplechase) relocated to rural America. The credits say its inspired by the novel as a 15-year-old girl (Jennifer McKenzie) nurtures an abused horse after talking her grandfather (Bruce Davison) into helping her adopt him. Luke Perry co-stars as her father.
Clouds of Sils Maria (Paramount/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, R for language and nudity). Indulgent inside-show-biz melodrama explores the familiar idea of the thin line that separates art and reality, method and madness (compared by some critics to Birdman). Excellent performances highlight this moody tale of aging actress Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) and her increasingly volatile relationship with her personal assistant (Kristen Stewart) as she prepares for a stage version of the film that made her a star at age 18. But now shes playing an older character, with a younger actress and paparazzi magnet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking on the role Maria once had. Beautiful cinematography in the Swiss Alps includes an especially striking cloud formation known as the Maloja Snake (which is also the title of the play).
It Follows (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; audio commentary, featurette, trailer, poster gallery). At a time when horror movies are mostly about found footage or gory shock effects, this one at least tries something different, extending the genres trope about sexually promiscuous teens being primary slasher-film victims. Here, that promiscuity passes on a haunting presence that stalks the victim until he/she passes it onto another, a metaphor for STDs in the freewheeling 21st century.
Goodbye to All That (IFC/DVD, 2015, not rated, trailer). Profane comedy-drama stars Paul Schneider (TVs Parks and Recreation) as a runner who injures his foot, then his wife (Melanie Lynskey) leaves him and then he loses his job. Hes pretty clumsy and clueless but manages to (pretty unbelievably) use social media to hook up with a string of very attractive women for one-night stands before reuniting with his first love. Raunchy low-budget indie flick co-stars Heather Graham and Amy Sedaris.