New to View: April 3
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, April 3, unless otherwise noted:
Ballers: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2017, HBO Home Entertainment
Rated: TV-MA, language, sexual content
The lowdown: The 10-episode season three arc of this popular HBO series focuses on Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson) and his colleagues working on a plan to bring an NFL franchise to Las Vegas.
After his stint in rehab, Spencer returns to ASM with a changed attitude.
Making money is no longer his primary goal. He now believes successful sports management relies on delivering on promises you make to clients.
This comedy series from Stephen Levinson (creator of “Entourage”) takes a jaundiced, but funny look at the world of sports business.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 2.0 DTS digital surround.
Basmati Blues (Blu-ray)
Details: 2017, Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Academy Award-winner Brie Larson stars in this musical romantic comedy as Dr. Linda Watt, a sheltered young scientist, sent to India by her company CEO (Donald Sutherland) to sell GMO rice she created to farmers.
In India, Linda meets Rajit (Utkarash Ambudkar), a rebellious college student forced to drop out of school because of lack of funds.
As her relationship with Rajit grows, Linda learns that she has unwittingly aided a destructive plan against the very farmers she believed she was helping.
The solution rests with Linda and Rajit working together to save the future for the farmers and themselves.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track, deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes featurette.
Trouble Is My Business
Details: 2018, Random Media
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This feature, inspired by the noir movies of the 1940s and early ‘50s, follows private eye Roland Drake as he investigates a case that includes corrupt cops, femme fatales, mugs, thugs and dames.
Drake is at the end of his rope, disgraced because of a botched missing persons case that has put him in the bad graces of the police and the public.
But redemption may have just walked through his door, in the person of Katherine Montemar, who is concerned about her missing family members.
She pulls him into the case and much, much deeper. Drake wakes up to Katherine missing and with a pool of blood where she used to be.
The more Drake probes, the more complex the case grows. It soon includes the hunt for a priceless gem.
The movie features betrayals and double crosses, until the case is cracked.
The two-disc release features color and black-and-white versions of the movie.
Technical aspects: 16:9 picture; English Dolby digital.
The Black Scorpion (Blu-ray)
Release date: March 27
Details: 1957, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: “The Black Scorpion” ranks high with me among the giant-bug creature features of the 1950s.
The reason is simple: Willis O’Brien. The stop-motion animation legend, creator of the silent “The Lost World” and the original “King Kong,” among others, worked his magic, despite a skimpy budget and other obstacles.
The movie’s title characters emerge from their subterranean lair to create havoc and destruction, killing people, ripping a train from its tracks and a helicopter from the sky.
It’s up to stalwart monster-killer Richard Denning, aided by Carlos Rivas and Mara Corday, to stop the titanic stingers before they destroy all of mankind.
The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and can be ordered at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or at other Internet sellers.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include the featurette, “Stop-Motion Masters” with Ray Harryhausen, footage of the Las Vegas monster and Beetlemen and the Harryhausen-animated dinosaur sequence from Irwin Allen’s 1956 film, ‘The Animal World.”
The Railway Children
Details: 2016, Omnibus Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: E. Nesbit’s classic novel has been adapted many times.
This 2016 version is an Olivier award-winning production that follows three children, Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter, who are uprooted when their father is mysteriously taken away.
Along with their mother, they move from London to a cottage in Yorkshire, where they befriend Perks, the local railway porter, and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure.
The mystery of where there father is and when — or if — he is coming back remains.
Seven cameras were used to film this production, which was staged at England’s National Railway Museum.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo. English closed-captioned.
Permanent (Blu-ray)
Details: 2017, Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, crude sexual humor, language, thematic elements
The lowdown: The Dickson family is newly relocated to a small Virginia town in this movie set in 1982.
This is a comedy about bad hair, awkward family members and adolescence that centers on life-altering permanents and bad wigs.
Even at 93 minutes, movie, which had a limited theatrical release, seems stretched.
The cast is headed by Patricia Arquette and Rainn Wilson as the Dickson parents and Kira McLean as their daughter.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include deleted and alternate scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette with Wilson and a look at Virginia.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
4/20 Massacre (DVD + VOD) (Film Chest)
Dance Academy: The Comeback (DVD + digital download + VOD) (Cinedigm)
Heartworn Highway/Heartworn Highway Revisited (FilmRise, April 6)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
All at Once (Gravitas Ventures)
The Commuter (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Goldbuster (Well Go USA Entertainment)
Killing Joan (Uncork’d Entertainment)
Outside In (The Orchard)
The Post (Fox Home Entertainment)
Divorce: Season 2 (HBO Home Entertainment, April 2)
Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity (Netflix, April 6)
The Good Karma Hospital: Series 2, Episode 2 (Acorn TV, April 9)
Goodnight Sweetheart, Series 6 (Acorn TV, April 9)
Interview with a Murderer (Acorn TV, April 9)
Murdoch Mysteries; Season 11, Episode 16 (Acorn TV, April 9)
Coming next week: All the Money in the World
Vice Principals: The Complete Series
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.