Home Video | From must-sees to maybe-sees
Must-see movies should be considered with skepticism. Who, for instance, labels a movie a must-see? And doesn't must-see criteria depend a great deal on who has seen this must-see film? This week's slate of releases for home video includes three one-time, must-see feature films that didn't have the greatest night at the Oscars. Whether that still renders them must-see motion pictures is up to you.
New movies
"The Imitation Game." British thespian Benedict Cumberbatch is up to his usual chameleonic brilliance as British code-breaker Alan Turing, the genius who broke Hitler's unbreakable Enigma code. And he received a deserved Oscar nomination for his efforts. Despite a nod for Best Picture as well, the film is nothing so much as a well-made, stately, straightforward biopic that never quite catches fire. A greater failing is the movie's reluctance to treat Turing's homosexuality, for which he was later prosecuted, with the fearlessness that it deserved. The movie is drenched in decorum. Rated PG-13 for some sexual references, mature thematic material and historical smoking. 114 min.
"Interstellar." Christopher Nolan's space epic about a future Earth's search for a new home outside its solar system is hugely ambitious, mixing familial tensions on terra firma with high-minded questions about physics and morality. Ultimately, Nolan probably overreached; his movie becomes unwieldy in a way 2013's tightly plotted, and far superior, "Gravity" never was. But star Matthew McConaughey delivers yet another strong performance, while female leads Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway aren't given quite as much to do. Matt Damon pops up late as a character who's fairly baffling, as is some of the movie. Rated PG-13 for some intense perilous action and brief strong language. 169 min.
"Wild." How very far actress Reese Witherspoon has come from her "Legally Blonde" days becomes fully apparent in this little drama with some very big ideas. As Cheryl Strayed, the real-life author who wrote about her solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail as she recovered from a heroin addiction and several rocky years, Witherspoon gives the performance of her career. Not a lot happens in "Wild," there isn't much of a plot, but the film reaches for the heart — and finds it — to an extent most other movies during the underwhelming awards season just past did not. "Wild" earns its status as the Rental of the Week. Rated R for sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language. 115 min.
Television
And now for the HBO portion of this week's column. Mike Judge, of "Office Space" fame, has turned his attention to today's tech world for "Silicon Valley," a comedy series that's, frankly, all over the place. Crude jokes share time with high-concept humor, and it took me several episodes to latch onto the show's rhythm. But the series is very smart, and ultimately worthwhile. The first season is out on DVD/Blu-ray. Two discs, 228 min. … Thanks to HBO's "Veep," now three seasons in, we still have a fresh place to go for our Julia Louis-Dreyfus fix. This comedy series, set in a Washington, D.C., only a fool would want to be part of, is so satirical it becomes painful to watch at times. But the humor is tight. It also comes at you really, really fast, so don't be ashamed to use that rewind button. The third season is out on DVD/Blu-ray. Two discs, 307 min.
HBO made news in recent weeks when Robert Durst, an eccentric New York real estate magnate, confessed to killing three people over four decades, something that had been long suspected. The confession appeared in Andrew Jarecki's documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," with Durst's arrest following the film's airing on the premium cable network. "The Jink" is now available for purchase on various digital platforms. It arrives on DVD/Blu-ray July 7.
Top 10
Here are this week's most popular DVD/Blu-ray rentals, as compiled by Rotten Tomatoes: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1," "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," "Interstellar," "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," "Fury," "Big Hero 6," "Into the Woods," "The Imitation Game," "Penguins of Madagascar" and "Birdman."
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