New to View: April 24
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are scheduled for release on Tuesday, April 24, unless otherwise noted:
Paddington 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2018, Warner Home Video
Rated: PG, action, mild rude humor
The lowdown: This charming and family-friendly sequel finds Paddington settled in with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens.
He has become a beloved member of the community, spreading joy and providing marmalade wherever he goes.
While out hunting for the perfect gift for Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, Paddington sees an unusual pop-up book in Mr. Gruber’s antique shop.
He undertakes a series of odd jobs to raise the money to buy the gift, which leads to some comic misadventures.
The book, however, is stolen, so Paddington and the Browns undertake a search to find it and unmask the thief.
The movie endeared critics, who gave it an amazing 100 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos TrueHD, English 5.1 descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.40:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include “Paddington: The Bear Truth” featurette, a look at how to make a marmalade sandwich, a music video by Phoenix Buchanan, a behind-the-scenes look at “The Magical Mystery of Paddington’s Pop-Up Book,” a look at the bond between the bear and the Browns and a commentary track.
Den of Thieves: Unrated (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2018, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: Unrated & R, violence, language, nudity, sexual content
The lowdown: A heist thriller pitting an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department against the state’s most successful bank robbery crew.
The crooks are planning a spectacular heist — robbing the Federal Reserve Bank of downtown Los Angeles.
Gerard Butler stars as the head of the police units, who plays a cat-and-mouse game with the crooks, who include “Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Pablo Schreiber and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
The set features an extended unrated version of the movie as well as the theatrical release version.
While the movie offered loads of actions, critics were rather blasé, giving the feature a tepid 41 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental offerings include an alternate ending, a featurette on the movie’s alpha male cast, a look at the cop and crime crews, a behind-the-scene look at filming in the Alameda Corridor, a commentary track and outtakes and deleted scenes.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Blu-ray)
Details: 2017, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Hedy Lamarr was a beautiful Austrian import signed to a contract by MGM, where she was featured in dozens of movies opposite such stars as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Charles Boyer.
But Lamarr, whose real name was Hedwig Eva Kiesler, was more than a beautiful face.
She was very intelligent and an inventor, helping create a secure guidance system for torpedoes during World War II. In fact, her invention was responsible for a communication system that is in use today in our Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.
This documentary that looks at Lamarr’s life includes interviews with family, friends and Hollywood personalities such as the late Robert Osborne, Mel Brooks and Peter Bogdanovich.
The movie gives this astounding woman the credit and recognition she so richly deserves.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an interview with director Alexandra Dean and outtakes.
Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: April 10
Details: 2018, Warner Home Video
Rated: R, graphic and bloody violence, sexual content, brief nudity, drug material
The lowdown: Task Force X, comprised of the baddest of the bad, are again unleashed; this time, to steal a powerful mystical object.
Deadshot, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang and Harley Quinn are joined by new recruits Copperhead and Bronze Tiger to fulfill the mission assigned to them by cold-blooded warden Amanda Walker.
This feature-length animated movie is not for the youngsters, as its R-rating indicates.
This latest offering from the DC Universe features the voice talents of Christian Slater, Vanessa Walker, C. Thomas Howell, Billy Brown, Tara Strong, Kristen Bauer van Straten and Liam McIntyre.
Technical aspects: 4K UHD: 2100p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French and Spanish (Latin) 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish (Castilian) 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French and Spanish (Latin) 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish (Castilian) 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a look at villains Captain Boomerang and Deadshot and their places in the DC Universe, a featurette on the movie’s plot, a commentary track and a sneak peek at the next DC Universe movie, “The Death of Superman.”
Shameless: The Complete Eighth Season
Details: 2017, Warner Home Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A three-disc set featuring all 12 episodes of this popular Showtime series about the Gallagher family from Chicago’s South Side.
Among the story lines for the season is one featuring family patriarch, Frank (William H. Macy), emerging from a drug-induced haze, deciding to make amends and becoming a responsible member of society.
Daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) learns about the problems of being a landlord; Lip (Jeremy Allen White) struggles with staying sober; Ian (Cameron Monaghan) tries to win back his boyfriend; Debbie (Emma Kenney) works hard at welding school so she can have a future with Fanny; Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) finds various means to pay for his tuition after losing his scholarship; and Kev (Steve Howey) and V (Shanola Hampton) battle to get their bar back.
A lot goes on in these episodes, but one constant remains — the Gallaghers stick together and put family first.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital surround; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include unaired scenes, an interview with Kenney and a look at the women in front of and behind the camera.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space (Blu-ray)
Details: 1988, Arrow Video
Rated: PG-13, violence, language
The lowdown: This is one of the strangest, yet entertaining sci-fi concepts ever conceived.
The title explains it all, but it’s the way the movie pulls off its premise that makes it so much fun.
The clowns carry deadly popcorn guns and cotton candy cocoon-lie weapons. And their spaceship is shaped like a circus big-top.
Two young people try to warn their fellow residents about the menace, but they are ignored and ridiculed until it is too late.
The movie is a three-ring killer diller that holds your attention from start to finish.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an archival commentary track, a featurette on the film’s theme song, a featurette on the Chiodo brothers, who made the film, and their childhood home-made movies, a collection of the Chiodo brothers 8mm and Super 8 films, an interview with stars Grant Cramer and Suzanne Snyder, a tour of Chiodo Brothers Productions, an archival making of featurette, a look at the visual effects, an interview with composer John Massari, Klown auditions, deleted scenes, bloopers and image galleries.
Liquid Sky (Blu-ray)
Details: 1982, Vinegar Syndrome
Rated: R, violence, sex, language, drug use
The lowdown: This strange science fiction feature is a cult favorite, an independent underground movie set against the backdrop of the early 1980s New York New Wave scene.
Director Slava Tsukerman directed the film and was one of its authors, along with his wife, Nina V. Kerova, and Anne Carlisle, who headed the cast.
The story is an avant-garde blend of sci-fi and fashion, focusing on Margaret (Carlisle), an ambitious fashion model, whose main rival and antagonist is Jimmy (also Carlisle), who happens to be a drug addict.
A space ship, carrying tiny invisible aliens, lands on the roof of the apartment where Margaret lives.
Soon after, anyone Margaret has sex with is killed by the aliens, who are extracting endorphins from Margaret’s various parents after they experience organisms.
Adding to all of this is a German scientist, who is attempting to capture and study the aliens.
This midnight movie favorite has a little bit of everything. It’s weird and interesting.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a commentary track and interview with Tsukerman, an interview with Carlisle, a new introduction to the film by Tsukerman, a making of documentary, a question-and-answer session from 2017, an isolated soundtrack, outtakes, an alternate opening sequence and rehearsal footage.
Doctor Detroit (Blu-ray)
Details: 1983, Shout! Factory
Rated: R, language, sexual situations
The lowdown: Dan Aykroyd stars in the newest Shout Select series release.
Aykroyd plays Clifford Skridlow, a professor who is conned by a fast-talking pimp, played by Howard Hesseman, to pose at Doctor Detroit, the newest player in the game.
Skridlow adopts the new guise in order to protect the working girls from Chicago crime boss, Mom (Kate Murtagh), as well as save his college from financial ruin.
This is not one of Aykroyd’s best movies, but it does have some fine moments of laughter.
The feature costars Donna Dixon, Fran Drescher and James Brown.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track, an interview with director Michael Pressman and the “Doctor Detroit” audio press kit.
The Maze (Blu-ray)
Details: 1953, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This science fiction-horror hybrid had two things going for it: it was shot in 3-D during the height of the 1950s 3-D craze, and its director was legendary set designer William Cameron Menzies.
Unfortunately, that was not enough to elevate the movie past simply ordinary.
The story takes place at an ancestral castle in the Scottish Highlands and involves a dark family secret.
The movie’s problem is the payoff does not live up to all the expectation and scares that preceded it.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 3.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and Master Audio monaural.
Don’t miss: A commentary track and an interview with female lead Veronica Hurst are the major bonus components.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014-17, Time Life
Rated: Not rated, language
The lowdown: A two-disc set featuring 53 performances from live concerts from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies from 2014 to 2017.
Among the iconic acts taking the stage are Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Cat Stevens, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, Journey, Cheap Trick and Nirvana.
This is a set any music lover will need for their collection.
Also included are complete speeches from such artists as Coldplay’s Chris Martin inducting Peter Gabriel and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich inducting Deep Purple.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital.
Alexander Hamilton (DVD-R)
Release date: April 10
Details: 1931, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: In the early 1930s, British actor George Arliss was the go-to performer for historical dramas based on famous figures.
He won an Academy Award for “Disraeli,” and also portrayed Voltaire, Cardinal Richelieu. The Duke of Wellington and Mayer and Nathan Rothschild.
In 1931, he tackled the role of Alexander Hamilton, the man who created the nation’s Treasury and our monetary system.
Like today’s hit Broadway musical, “Hamilton,” this movie covers the man’s successes and scandals — but without the songs and dances.
Doris Kenyon plays Hamilton’s wife, Betsy, while June Collyer is the tempting Mrs. Reynolds.
Popping up throughout the film are such founding fathers as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.
The release is a made-on-demand DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection and can be found at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other Internet dealers.
Technical aspects: 1.37:1 (4×3) full-screen picture; English Dolby digital monaural.
The Prime Minister (DVD-R)
Release date: April 10
Details: 1941, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: John Gielgud stars as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in this British wartime drama that draws parallels between Disraeli’s early struggles to protect his nation, despite massive opposition — even from his own party — and those of then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he battled to keep Great Britain afloat and ward off a threatened onslaught by Nazi Germany.
The movie was among many that Warner Bros. produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s that served the dual purpose of entertaining and preparing for and helping the war effort.
“The Prime Minister” follows the trajectory of Disraeli’s career from novelist to statesman, as well as examining the great influence of the widowed Lady Mary Ann Wyndham Lewis (Diana Wynyard) on his life and politics.
The release is a made-on-demand DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection. It is available at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other online dealers.
Technical aspects: 1.37:1 (4×3) full-screen picture; English Dolby digital monaural.
Cyborg: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1989, Scream Factory
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in the dystopian futuristic action-thriller about a 21st-century United States that has descended into barbarism after a deadly plague that ravished the nation.
Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a half-human-half-cyborg scientist, has the knowledge to develop a vaccine.
But during her quest to gather information and create a cure, she is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates, who plan to keep the antidote for themselves.
It’s up to saber-wielding hero Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) to rescue Pearl and save humanity.
This Cannon Entertainment release from producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus covers familiar territory, but won’t disappoint fans of Van Damme.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with director Albert Pyun and cast members Deborah Richter and Vincent Klyn, a making of featurette, a look at the movie’s visual effects and a documentary about the history of Cannon Films.
The Final Year
Details: 2018, Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This documentary goes behind-the-scenes to look at the inner workings of the Obama administration as its members prepare to leave power after eight years.
The movie centers on President Obama’s foreign policy team, including Secretary of State John Kerry, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and the president himself.
The movie follows them throughout 2016 as they attempt to initiate policies they believe will promote diplomacy over military action.
The film also examines how these leaders confront questions of war and peace as they prepare to hand over the government to a new administration.
For political wonks, this documentary will make interesting and insightful viewing.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Deleted scenes are the major bonus offering.
A Lost Lady (DVD-R)
Release date: April 10
Details: 1934, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Barbara Stanwyck stars in this romantic melodrama as a bride smacked by tragedy on her wedding day.
Stanwyck’s Marian Ormsby falls into a deep depression and grows bitter.
Her family, in an attempt to ease her back to normalcy, sends her north near the Canadian Rockies to recuperate.
There, she meets kindly lawyer Dan Forrester (Frank Morgan), who gently coaxes her out of her shell. Forrester, who is many years older than Marian, offers her an unusual proposal — marriage without love.
The two wed and become the toast of the town, with Dan building Marian her dream mansion.
Marian must also fend off the advances of Forrester’s law partner, Neil (Lyle Talbot).
Marian is content, until transport magnate Frank Ellinger (Ricardo Cortez) enters her life when he is forced to make an emergency landing on the Forrester estate.
He, too, makes his amorous intentions towards Marian known.
But, will she remain dormant or reignite the spark that makes life worth living?
You’ll have to check out this made-on-demand DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection to get the answer.
The disc can be ordered at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1.37:1 (4×3) full-screen picture; English Dolby digital monaural.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Henry Miller: Asleep & Awake (IndiePix Films)
Last Seen in Idaho (DVD + VOD) (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Strings (Monarch Home Entertainment)
Who’s Jenna (DVD + VOD) (Indican Pictures)
FOR KIDS
Wacky Races: Start Your Engines: Season One, Volume One (Warner Home Video)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Fifty Shades Freed (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
Kevin James: Never Don’t Give Up (Netflix)
Supercon (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, April 27)
After Henry, Series 2 (Acorn TV, April 30)
The Good Karma Hospital: Series 2, Episode 5 (Acorn TV, April 30)
Station X (Acorn TV, April 30)
Coming next week: 12 Strong
I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.