ENTERTAINMENT

Home Video: Some franchises never get old

Todd Hill
Reporter

Can summer really be over? If the home-video release calendar is any indication, yes, the seasons are changing, as the quality of the titles coming out is finally improving after several weeks of slim pickings. Most notably, home-video enthusiasts will now start finding movies that saw their theatrical debuts way back at the other end of this summer.

New movies

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows a scene from “Mad Max: Fury Road.” (Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

"Mad Max: Fury Road." The genre of post-apocalypse dystopias has grown a bit stale of late, but the first "Mad Max" title in 30 years feels like a breath of bracingly fresh air. One of the best reviewed movies of 2015 to date, "Fury Road" is close to perfect filmmaking, bulging with visceral set pieces while still making complete sense every step of the way. We care about what's happening on screen. Tom Hardy plays the title character, but Charlize Theron utterly steals the picture as Furiosa. Recommended. Rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images. In English and Russian with English subtitles. 120 min.

"Pitch Perfect 2." Considering how few film sequels attain anywhere near the quality, or box office, of the first installments, one may be forgiven for wondering why there are so many. Led by Anna Kendrick and her Cheshire cat grin, this re-immersion into the world of competitive choir singing makes the mistake of so many sequels by attempting to go bigger when it should've just stuck with a winning formula. Even so, "PP2" is difficult to disparage. The musical numbers still kick it, and any film franchise able to succeed despite a cast that is virtually all female (gasp!) should be championed. Rated PG-13 for innuendo and language. 115 min.

Anna Kendrick as Beca, in a scene from the film, “Pitch Perfect 2.” (Richard Cartwright/Universal Pictures via AP)

"Good Kill." Can this be the future of war movies? Gone, evidently, are the days of storming beaches. Here, Ethan Hawke makes war by sending out drones from a cozy room in Las Vegas, but at least he feels guilty about it. Andrew Niccol's film, to be honest, isn't so much a war movie as an examination of what drone warfare can do a person of conscience. The movie is flawed, and doesn't always succeed at holding one's interest, but "Good Kill" is among the first films, if not the first, to take a serious look at the ramifications of using drones to take down the enemy. Rated R for violent content including a rape, language, and some sexuality. 102 min.

"The D Train." Jack Black, at that point in his film career where film careers often run out of gas, continues to make some interesting choices in the pictures he picks. This odd, little comedy about two very different guys reuniting during a high school class reunion does Black's image no favors, but he gives it his all. And James Marsden, previously known largely for just being a pretty boy, gives what may be his best performance in a film to date. "The D Train" is difficult to describe, and probably destined to be overlooked, but it's a worthy effort. It also ends well, which always helps. Rated R for strong sexual material, nudity, language and drug use. 101 min.

Television

"Bessie." Had this biopic about the blues singer Bessie Smith made it to the big screen instead of HBO, it would likely be up for some Oscars consideration. Queen Latifah most certainly could expect a nomination for her performance as Smith. As it is, she may have to settle for an Emmy Award. As biopics go, this is fairly standard stuff, with its chronicle of Smith's rise in the 1920s, followed by her fall during the Depression years and then a cementing of her status as a legend, all feeling very familiar. But Latifah is truly impressive here, and brave. Her Bessie is a force of nature, and a force to be reckoned with. 135 min.

Top 10

Here are this week's most popular movie rentals, as compiled by Rotten Tomatoes – "The Divergent Series: Insurgent," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Home," "Get Hard," "Ex Machina," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2," "Aloha," "The Longest Ride," "It Follows" and "Unfriended."

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