DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 2/21/2012

New options for your home viewing this week:

Writer/director Sean Durkin’s first film follows a young woman who joins and then decides to leave a cult.  Martha Marcy May Marlene opens with a scene that establishes the insidious heart of the matter: Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), who has just run away from a compound in the woods that a cult led by Patrick (John Hawkes) calls home, sits in a diner and is approached by one of the male cult members.  She tells him she isn’t coming back; he simply gets up and leaves without looking back.  The rest of the film, which ties together Martha’s attempt to readjust to life with her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and her life as “Marcy May” in Patrick’s clan, shows why Martha may have abandoned her old life and why the man in the diner doesn’t need to take her back.  Here is a life ruined.  My review is here.  Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Picks and Predictions for the 84th Annual Academy Awards (aka, the 2012 Oscars)

At least last year’s Oscar race was one for a while.  The inevitable Best Picture winner has pretty much been set–at least by the entertainment press (who apparently have nothing better to do with their coverage of film than to determine whether or not any given movie is an Oscar contender)–since the film’s showing at Cannes.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 2/14/2012

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There were more murders in Chicago in 2008 than there were deaths of American soldiers in Iraq.  This is when the story made national news, but before that, director Steve James was in the city to follow the non-profit organization CeaseFire.  The Interrupters follows three “violence interrupters,” volunteers who step into the fray to hinder retaliatory violence before it erupts.  James ignores statistics and instead watches–with devastating precision–the effects of cyclical violence.  This is a testament to courage and the possibility of redemption for the individual and society as a whole.  The fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s documentary branch failed to recognize it (as they did with James’ Hoop Dreams) is a disgrace.  It’s one of the best films of 2011.  Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 2/7/2012

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“It was the ’70s,” one of the subjects of Project Nim jokes about her personal life, and that mantra becomes a  jokey theme of the events of the film.  ”Let’s raise a baby chimpanzee as a human baby,” because, after all, “It was the ’70s.”  It might have seemed a noble experiment to observe the nature vs. nurture debate, teaching little (then big) Nim Chimpsky sign language and allowing him to live with a family, but James Marsh’s documentary is all about hindsight being 20/20.  The cruel irony of the whole project is how those noble intentions of treating a chimpanzee as a human are so quickly dismissed (not to mention the chimp itself) when the people behind the study realize the obvious: A chimpanzee is not a human being.  Available on DVD.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 1/31/2012

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An unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling), a Hollywood stunt driver by day and getaway driver by night, has a very specific set of rules for his life and his work, and Drive, director Nicolas Winding Refn’s vibrant character study, watches as he finds himself in one situation after another that causes him to break those rules.  From the virtuoso opening chase sequence, the film is a thrilling marriage of characterization and style.  Set against the backdrop of a slick and seedy Los Angeles, the story revolves around Driver’s relationship with an essentially single woman (Carey Mulligan) whose husband (Oscar Isaac) returns from prison with a debt to settle to criminals.  Albert Brooks plays the villain, Brian Cranston is Driver’s boss/partner-in-crime, and Hossein Amini’s screenplay is empathetic to all its characters.  It’s one of the best films of 2011.  My review is here.  Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 1/24/2012

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50/50 is not so much about the effects of cancer.  In downplaying the medical plight of its protagonist, an ordinary 30-something man named Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, playing a character loosely based on screenwriter Will Reiser’s own experience) who discovers he has cancer and a 50 percent chance of survival, the film finds some genuinely affecting moments exploring the support structure surrounding him.  The female characters (i.e., his psychologist (Anna Kendrick) and girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard)) become problematic (Kendrick’s character works until some unfortunate but admittedly sweet romantic feelings develop), but the relationship between Adam and his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), who seems to be taking advantage of his friend’s misfortune until we come to realize the depth of his caring, is truly touching.  My review is here.  Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases — 1/17/2012

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The Ides of March tells the ageless story of a man who gains everything but loses his soul in the process.  The question of whether or not the man had much of a soul to being with is another matter entirely.  He is Stephen Myers, the assistant press secretary to an overtly liberal governor (George Clooney) running for President.  The story of a rough Democratic primary will seem familiar to anyone with even a vague recollection of our previous presidential election, but what really sinks the movie–after it does a fine job exploring a campaign in the world of 24-hour news cycles and blogs–is its ultimate reliance on conspiratorial machinations to make a trite point.  My review is here.  Available on DVD and Blu-ray.