New on DVD and Blu-ray Week of May 12-18

Chris Kavan

By Chris Kavan - 05/12/15 at 08:08 AM CT

Harley's blog will be slightly delayed, so until then I will highlight the top new released of the week, at least until the normally-scheduled blog appears tomorrow. Lucky that there is a bit of everything this week: drama, comedy, action - granted, some of the movies didn't exactly light up the box office (and, in fact, some did the exact opposite) but maybe you can rent them - and feel a little better about your decision.

The best choice this week has to belong to Julianne Moore, who won rave reviews (and a bunch of awards - including the coveted Academy Award for Best Performing Actress) in the film Still Alice. Moore plays linguistic professor
Alice Howland, whose life is forever changed with a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. Her three grown children and husband do their best to cope with the changes this brings, but it is Alice who struggles the most - trying to squeeze every lucid moment she has left into living her life before everything slips away. It's powerful and moving and covers a subject that affects so many people. If you want something emotional - you won't find much better out there right now.

No one is going to place Mortdecai among Johnny Depp's best films. In fact, considering the talent involved (aside from Depp, you have Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn and Jeff Goldblum among others) - the spectacular failure of Mordecai looks even worse. Granted, the trailers did nothing to help out this film - about a bumbling, charming rogue/art dealer who is recruited to track down a stolen painting said to contain a secret leading to a stash of Nazi gold. It was just too strange (and not funny enough) for general audience, who pretty much ignored it, and critics were harsh as well. In the end, Mortdecai is really only for die hard Depp fans, or those really hard-up for a comedy.

Not doing much better in the action department, Blackhat was another film that came and went so fast, it's probably a wonder most people even remember it was in theaters. It's too bad, because at least this one looked interesting and covered a timely matter: cybercrime. Chris Hemsworth plays a hacker in prison who is given a chance at freedom, provided he helps take down a cybercrime ring with a nationwide network looking to launch a devastating worldwide attack. It sounds exciting - but response from critics and audience was lackluster at best and this made few ripples at the box office. That being said, I would take this over Mortdecai any day.

The best of the rest should be up some time tomorrow - so stay tuned for your regularly-scheduled blog until then.

Comments