The Oscar-nominated biographical film American Sniper is on Blu-ray and DVD this week.
American Sniper (Warner/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2014, R for violence and language, featurettes). Director Clint Eastwood proves that at age 84 he still knows how to deliver the goods with this examination of the all-too-short life of Chris Kyle, played perfectly by Bradley Cooper. Sienna Miller co-stars as Kyles wife, desperate to help her husband when he returns from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Based on Kyles autobiography, the film tells of Kyles life growing up in Texas as a rodeo cowboy and hunter, through his career as a Navy SEAL sniper, ultimately becoming the deadliest marksman in military history with 244 confirmed kills during four vividly portrayed tours in Iraq. Kyles difficulties in putting the war behind him as he attempts to adjust to civilian life are also dramatically portrayed, right up to his tragic death.
Leviathan (Sony Classics/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014; R for language, sex, nudity; in Russian with English subtitles, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Melodrama with universal implications and biblical overtones as a family in a Russian coastal village is hounded by a corrupt mayor that wants their land. The put-upon resident seeks help from a powerful friend but more and more problems beset him.
Cymbeline (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence, audio commentary, featurettes). Update of an obscure Shakespeare play, maintaining the Bards dialogue as the story is updated and relocated to New York. Ed Harris is a gangster up against a cop, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall, while his daughter (Dakota Johnson) becomes a pawn in two subplots, one involving Harris wife (Milla Jovovich), and the other involving her secret husband (Penn Badgley) and his conniving friend (Ethan Hawke). Others in the cast include John Leguizamo, Anton Yelchin, Bill Pullman and Delroy Lindo. (Director Michael Almereyda and Hawke did a similar hat trick with Hamlet in 2000.)
Strange Magic (Touchstone/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG, featurettes). Animated Lucasfilm musical fairy tale with a story by George Lucas about goblins, elves, fairies and imps battling over a magic potion that might cast a spell on a reluctant princess. Voice cast includes Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Alfred Molina and Maya Rudolph.
Maya the Bee Movie (Shout! Kids/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, G, featurettes, bloopers, trailers). Australian animated feature about a young girl bee that learns about following her bliss while overcoming fear and prejudice, which leads to her befriending other insects. She also interferes with a plot against her queen, as well as waylaying a conflict between bees and hornets. Voice cast includes Noah Taylor and Jacki Weaver.
The Legend of Longwood (Shout!/DVD, 2015, PG, featurette). Live-action fantasy about a 12-year-old New York girl whose mother takes her to live in Longwood, Ireland. There she discovers she has a link to the past involving a legend about a 300-year-old Black Knight terrorizing the village, though most of the locals dont believe it. Lucy Morton stars.
Before I Disappear (IFC/DVD, 2014, not rated, trailer). A lovable loser (Shawn Christensen) is about to commit suicide when his sister (Emmy Rossum) calls in need of a baby sitter for her precocious tween daughter (Fatima Ptacek, a real scene-stealer). So he brings the girl along to his seedy Manhattan haunts, which unexpectedly (to him, not us) gives him a reason to live. (Written and directed by Christensen from his Oscar-winning 2012 short, Curfew.)
Roommate Wanted (Lionsgate/DVD/2015; R for sex, language, violence; trailers). Intelligent but bipolar Janie (Alexa Vega) and the glamorous Dee (Spencer Grammer, daughter of Kelsey) are roommates who turn on each other with escalating pranks and violence in this offbeat thriller. Kathryn Morris (TVs Cold Case) has a supporting role.
American Sniper (Warner/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2014, R for violence and language, featurettes). Director Clint Eastwood proves that at age 84 he still knows how to deliver the goods with this examination of the all-too-short life of Chris Kyle, played perfectly by Bradley Cooper. Sienna Miller co-stars as Kyles wife, desperate to help her husband when he returns from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Based on Kyles autobiography, the film tells of Kyles life growing up in Texas as a rodeo cowboy and hunter, through his career as a Navy SEAL sniper, ultimately becoming the deadliest marksman in military history with 244 confirmed kills during four vividly portrayed tours in Iraq. Kyles difficulties in putting the war behind him as he attempts to adjust to civilian life are also dramatically portrayed, right up to his tragic death.
Leviathan (Sony Classics/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014; R for language, sex, nudity; in Russian with English subtitles, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes). Melodrama with universal implications and biblical overtones as a family in a Russian coastal village is hounded by a corrupt mayor that wants their land. The put-upon resident seeks help from a powerful friend but more and more problems beset him.
Cymbeline (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, R for violence, audio commentary, featurettes). Update of an obscure Shakespeare play, maintaining the Bards dialogue as the story is updated and relocated to New York. Ed Harris is a gangster up against a cop, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall, while his daughter (Dakota Johnson) becomes a pawn in two subplots, one involving Harris wife (Milla Jovovich), and the other involving her secret husband (Penn Badgley) and his conniving friend (Ethan Hawke). Others in the cast include John Leguizamo, Anton Yelchin, Bill Pullman and Delroy Lindo. (Director Michael Almereyda and Hawke did a similar hat trick with Hamlet in 2000.)
Strange Magic (Touchstone/DVD/Digital, 2015, PG, featurettes). Animated Lucasfilm musical fairy tale with a story by George Lucas about goblins, elves, fairies and imps battling over a magic potion that might cast a spell on a reluctant princess. Voice cast includes Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Alfred Molina and Maya Rudolph.
Maya the Bee Movie (Shout! Kids/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2015, G, featurettes, bloopers, trailers). Australian animated feature about a young girl bee that learns about following her bliss while overcoming fear and prejudice, which leads to her befriending other insects. She also interferes with a plot against her queen, as well as waylaying a conflict between bees and hornets. Voice cast includes Noah Taylor and Jacki Weaver.
The Legend of Longwood (Shout!/DVD, 2015, PG, featurette). Live-action fantasy about a 12-year-old New York girl whose mother takes her to live in Longwood, Ireland. There she discovers she has a link to the past involving a legend about a 300-year-old Black Knight terrorizing the village, though most of the locals dont believe it. Lucy Morton stars.
Before I Disappear (IFC/DVD, 2014, not rated, trailer). A lovable loser (Shawn Christensen) is about to commit suicide when his sister (Emmy Rossum) calls in need of a baby sitter for her precocious tween daughter (Fatima Ptacek, a real scene-stealer). So he brings the girl along to his seedy Manhattan haunts, which unexpectedly (to him, not us) gives him a reason to live. (Written and directed by Christensen from his Oscar-winning 2012 short, Curfew.)
Roommate Wanted (Lionsgate/DVD/2015; R for sex, language, violence; trailers). Intelligent but bipolar Janie (Alexa Vega) and the glamorous Dee (Spencer Grammer, daughter of Kelsey) are roommates who turn on each other with escalating pranks and violence in this offbeat thriller. Kathryn Morris (TVs Cold Case) has a supporting role.