The week’s DVDs begin in California:
DVDs and streaming for June 2 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in California:
McFarland U.S.A. (***)
Kevin Costner stars as peripatetic track coach Jim White in this inspirational sports movie from Disney. White drags his family, including wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and daughters Julie and Jamie (Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher), to multiple locations before ending up in McFarland, California. There, he inherits a floundering track team, but one, upon inspection, that holds promise. The Latino squad, all from migrant families, arrives filled with movie-friendly misfits and a typical smattering of smart-alecks. But White connects with his team before taking them on to greater successes, both on the track and in their personal lives. Director Niki Caro delivers a thoughtful albeit familiar work, but one without excess treacle.
Rated PG, 129 minutes.
Extras: a nine minute featurette with an interview with Costner and Coach Jim White, a music video by Juanes, six deleted and extended scenes, and the brief “making of” featurette “Inspiring McFarland.”
Tough Being Loved by Jerks (***1/2)
The re-issue of this breathless, fast-paced 2008 documentary from director Daniel Leconte gains a sad poignancy after the January Paris attack that left dead many seen in the film. Leconte examines how the initial 2005 Danish publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad led to their being reprinted in France, and, in particular, by the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. After the cartoon’s print appearance, several organizations took Hebdo to court in 2007 for defamation and incitement of hatred. Leconte follows the case to trial and after, with copious on-scene footage of the trial and its surrounding courthouse chaos. The rapid fire interviews include current French President Francois Hollande, filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, and victims of the January seventh attack, including, among others, main illustrators Tignous, Charb and Cabu. (This film is also known as “It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks.”)
Not rated, 106 minutes.
Killer Cop (**1/2), L’il Quinquin (***)
Arriving this week are a pair of vastly different crime dramas from Italy and France. Luciano Ercoli directed Killer Cop (not rated, 97 minutes), a gritty thriller originally released in 1975. It represents the popular Italian crime genre then known as the “Poliziotteschi.” Ercoli based his film loosely on a 1969 bombing in a Milan bank that killed dozens. When an investigation into the bombing begins, police commissioner Matteo Rolandi (Claudio Cassinelli) works to unravel the threads that threaten the city’s and even the country’s stability. Noted American actor Arthur Kennedy was recruited to play Armando di Federico, an investigative judge who oversees the inquiries. Extras include a 20 minute interview with the film’s production manager, Alessandro Calsosci, and an accompanying 12 page booklet with essay. Killer Cop is a documentary compared to the unrated French film L’il Quinquin (2014, 200 minutes). The title Quinquin (Alan Delhaye) is a pugnacious adolescent who terrorizes his rural home neighborhood in Northern France. In this picturesque region, severed body parts start to turn up stuffed into the nether regions of cows. Various local figures (several played by colorful yet willing non-professionals) serve as suspects for the two investigators, Commandant Van Der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) and Lieutenant Carpentier (Philippe Jore). (Van Der Weyden’s jabbering non-sequitors would seem natural in Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConnaughey’s back seat as they drove around in “True Detective.”) The commandant looks like (and trust us on this) a Gallic Al Sharpton, as he squints, twitches, mugs and seems to be losing control as he confronts a series of suspects. As usual, after a long, meandering process that originally played as a mini-series on French TV, the commandant closes in on his prey while the peripatetic Quinquin and his mates ride around on their bicycles causing hilarious havoc.
Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection
Thirteen classic cartoons by renowned animator Gene Deitch have been remastered and then assembled onto this single disc for their DVD debut. The frustrated cat chases the wily mouse in such favorites as “Dickey Moe,” “Sorry Safari,” “Carmen Get It,” “High Steaks” and more.
Not rated, 95 minutes.
Extras: the featurettes “Tom and Jerry . . . and Gene” and “Much Ado About Tom and Jerry.”
And, finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:
Justified—final season
One of cable’s best and most consistent series recently drew to a sad close as U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) finally put Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) in jail. In these 13 episodes, on three discs, wild man Crowder eluded Givens through the entire season despite being chased by Avery Markham (Sam Elliott) and double-crossed by Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns). And more importantly, ever enigmatic Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) somehow managed to slip through a series of traps and survive. Originally based on an Elmore Leonard story, the series maintained its quick wit, colorful characters, and complex plots right up to the end.
Not rated, 583 minutes.
Extras: deleted scenes, the six minute “making of” featurette “Hollywood to Harlan,” and the additional featurettes “Dutch Speaks” and “Directing the Show: Adam Arkin.”
Rectify—season two
The ten episodes of the sophomore season of this low profile yet critically acclaimed dramatic series from the Sundance Channel arrive on three discs. Created by multi-talented writer-director-actor Ray McKinnon, the second season begins with Daniel Holden (Aden Young) lying comatose in an intensive care unit after he finished season one being beaten by a masked gang. They beat Holden only a week after he returned home when DNA evidence freed him after 19 years in prison. He was accused of murdering a local girl. This season sees Tawney (Adelaide Clemens), the wife of Daniel’s half brother Ted (Clayne Crawford), still conflicted about her marriage, her religion, and the attention she showed Daniel on his return home. Meanwhile, the local sheriff must track down those responsible for Daniel’s beating while his sister Amantha (Abigail Spenser) and mother (J. Smith-Cameron) wait for justice. This rewarding dramatic series maintains its dramatic tension throughout.
Not rated, 451 minutes.
Extras: a 20 minute “making of” featurette for season two.
Rizzoli and Isles—season five
This TNT favorite rolls along for its fifth season, while showcasing the talents of two strong women, roles taken by Angie Harmon as Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as her Medical Examiner, Dr. Maura Isles. This season, Jane investigates, with Maura’s help, a jogger’s death, a murderer who trolls on-line for targets, the remains of a mummified body, a man found in a tub of ice, and other grisly discoveries. Plus, they help Korsak (Bruce McGill) with an old case, join task forces to solve a case, and hunt down a serial killer. The season’s 18 episodes arrive on four discs.
Not rated, 757 minutes.
Extras: unaired scenes, an 18 minute featurette on examining the difficulties of performing a stunt, and a three minute gag reel.
Also on DVD and streaming: Focus, Jupiter Ascending, Private Number, Spring.