The week’s DVDs begin in Seattle:
DVDs and streaming for Feb. 10 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in Seattle:
Laggies (***)
Director Lynn Shelton works from Andrea Seigel’s script to set up a ridiculous premise before turning it into a decently entertaining and, at times, insightful film. Shelton also has help from a trio of likable performers who bring some levity to a series of awkward situations. Seemingly ubiquitous Keira Knightley stars as a lost and forlorn Megan. Years since she earned a Master’s degree in counseling, she still lives in Seattle with her high school boyfriend (Mark Webber) and works part-time for her father (Jeff Garlin). Through circumstances, she meets and befriends 16 year-old Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz). Through even more strained circumstances, Megan escapes her aimless, empty life and finds temporary shelter at Annika’s home with her responsible, lawyer father Craig (Sam Rockwell). Of course Megan eventually weasels her way into the family’s life, serving as substitute mother for Annika and a new love interest for dad. Shelton brings out the humanity in her characters without reducing them to simple comic foils. Her situations sometimes look transparent, but they usually conclude with greater insights.
Rated R, 140 minutes.
Extras: director commentary, a nine minute “making of” featurette with Lynn Shelton, six minutes on filming in the Seattle area, and six deleted scenes.
Alexander and the Terrible. Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (**1/2)
In this feel-good Disney family comedy, Jennifer Garner and Steve Carell play Kelly and Ben Cooper, the parents of four youngsters, including Alexander (Ed Oxenbould). On his 12th birthday, the great Alexander believes himself responsible for the series of unfortunate events which plague his family on that day: dad doing terrible at a job interview, mom ruining a personal book appearance by Dick Van Dyke, brother Anthony (Dylan Minnette) breaking up with his girlfriend on the day of the prom, sister Emily (Kerris Dorsey) coming down with flu when she’s set to star in the senior play, and infant Trevor accidentally painting his face with green markers. Director Miguel Arteta works from Judith Viorst’s best seller and keeps the laughs broad and silly but always takes the time to emphasize the strong family connections that keep the Coopers together.
Rated PG, 81 minutes
Extras: a six minute video diary, a four minute music video, a five minute featurette on “Alexander in Real Life” with author Judith Viorst, four minutes of bloopers, seven minutes on Alexander’s Australian Outback birthday party, and more.
Force Majeure (***1/2)
Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), an upscale Swedish couple, take a ski vacation in the Alps with their two children. One day, they dine outside at a mountain restaurant when a controlled avalanche erupts nearby. In the confusion, Tomas seems to run off, leaving his family behind. No one is hurt, but later, Ebba’s perception of the event contradicts her husband’s, opening up a seam in what had previously looked to be a model marriage. They argue bitterly, bringing their marriage and even their relationship into question. Writer-director Ruben Ostlund creates a raw sense of hidden fears and disillusionment to complement his examination of middle-class perceptions and expectations.
Rated R, 119 minutes.
Extras: a 17 minute interview with Ostlund and Kuhnke and a three minute “behind-the-scenes” segment.
101 Dalmatians—Diamond Edition (****1/2)
Disney gives a Blu-ray and Digital HD debut to the 1961 animated classic that boasts of one of the greatest all-time screen villains—Cruella De Vil (voiced by Betty Lou Gerson). The mean Cruella plots to steal London’s Dalmatian puppies and turn them into her own fur coat. But first, she must get past a ferociously protective Pongo (voiced by Rod Taylor, who died in January) and Perdita (Cate Bauer). The ample bonus supplements document how an army of Disney animators worked over-time to create the dogs and to give a colorful visual representation to Dodie Smith’s original novel.
Rated G, 79 minutes.
Extras: a new short film “The Further Adventures of Thunderbolt,” the nine minute “making of” featurette “Lucky Dogs,” a five minute segment on the film hosted by Disney Channel personality Cameron Boyce, the 1961 version of “The Best Doggoned Dog in the World” (originating from Disney’s Adventureland), and three previous bonus features, including a 34 minute “making of” featurette, seven minutes on creating Cruella, and a 13 minute featurette examining the correspondence between Walt Disney and Dodie Smith.
Digimon Fusion—season one, Digimon Tamers—volume one
A double dose of Digimon arrives this week in these collections of the popular series. The six disc set Digimon Fusion—season one (rated TV-Y7, 640 minutes) offers all 30 episodes which originally aired on Nickelodeon. In this season, a boy and two of his friends land in the Digital World. There, they find the Digimon creatures engaged in battle for control of the empire. The collection also holds a 12 page character guide booklet and three villain galleries. Digimon Tamers—volume one (rated TV-Y7, 374 minutes) holds the first 17 episodes of the third season of Digimon (separate from the first two seasons). In this separate universe, Takato, Henry and Rika find their Digimon cards coming to life, but that also means they must fight the evil forces.
Also on DVD and streaming: Kink, Lilting, Nightcrawler, Predestination, Refuge From the Storm, Rosewater, Syncopation, A True Story.