Movie of the Week
Focus
Will Smith has had a rough go of it the last few years, with the dreadful After Earth representing his nadir. So maybe, just maybe, this con artist drama with Margot Robbie — on a meteoric rise — will start his comeback.
WIDE RELEASE
• A La Mala
• The Lazarus Effect
LIMITED RELEASE
• Human Capital — Angelika Dallas
• Maps to the Stars — LOOK
• Red Army — Angelika Dallas
• Timbuktu — Angelika Plano, The Magnolia
• What We Do in the Shadows — Angelika Plano, Angelika Dallas
Blu-ray Pick
Whiplash – Academy Award nominee for Best Picture
Winner of three Oscars (Supporting Actor, Sound Mixing, Film Editing), all richly deserved, Whiplash missed out on my personal Top 10, but it’s still a thrilling yet exhausting experience. Miles Teller is terrific as the obsessive drummer, but the star of the show is J.K. Simmons as the conductor from hell. He’s so terrifying, he makes my high school band director look reserved in comparison.
NEW RELEASES
• Beyond the Lights (81%)
• Big Hero 6 (90%) – Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature
• Horrible Bosses 2 (35%)
TV
• Jonah from Tonga
• Sons of Anarchy (Season 7)
NEW TO BLU-RAY
• 52 Pick-Up*
• American Gigolo
• Blood Red
• Connection
• Dangerously Close
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Fellini – Satyricon [The Criterion Collection]
• God Told Me To
• In the Land of the Head Hunters
• The Majestic
• Miami Blues
• New Year’s Evil
• The Night They Raided Minsky’s
• Ten Seconds to Hell
• Watership Down [The Criterion Collection]
• Wild Orchid
*recommended