Queen of Earth DVD Review

    Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Patrick Fugit, Katherine Waterston

Director: Alex Ross Perry

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI Home Video

DVD Release Date: December 22, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        There are things about Queen of Earth that I appreciated, such as the narrative resemblance to psychological thrillers such as Ingmar Bergman’s Persona or Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and (to a lesser degree) Rosemary’s Baby. The trailer even has a stylistic resemblance to films in this sub-genre from the 1970s, despite the style being much more subdued in the actual film. Then there are aspects of the relationships in Queen of Earth that I was unable to appreciate, if only for the simple fact that I belong to the wrong gender.

 

Jenny’s Wedding DVD Review

     Actors: Katherine Heigl, Alexis Bledel, Tom Wilkinson

Director: Mary Agnes Donoghue

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: MPI Home Video

DVD Release Date: December 29, 2015

Run Time: 94 minutes

 

 

        Jenny’s Wedding is more competently made than the screenplay from writer/director Mary Agnes Donoghue deserves, thanks entirely to a cast willing to commit to outdated material always on the verge of turning into a film you would see on the Hallmark Channel. The basic structure of the film is all melodrama, enhancing the singular note of the movie with endless montages which utilize pop songs to convey the emotions the filmmaking is incapable of, but the tone of the movie takes on the air of a romantic comedy. The result is a breezy piece of bubblegum LGBT propaganda with a stacked cast.

Time Out of Mind Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Richard Gere, Jena Malone

Director: Oren Moverman

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: December 15, 2015

Run Time: 121 minutes

 

 

        Narratively speaking, Time Out of Mind is so simplistic that I was certain the concept would never hold for the two-hour running-time. Then I began to notice the stylistic choices filmmaker Oren Moverman was making and realized that this is a film that needs to take its time for the approach to be effective. It is also a story made for the cinematic art form, at least according to Siegfried Kracauer’s list of the medium’s unique functions in his essential work, Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality.

 

Slow Learners DVD Review

     Actors: Sarah Burns, Adam Pally

Directors: Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: MPI Home Video

DVD Release Date: December 15, 2015

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

        Slow Learners opens with a couple of scenes that are brilliantly executed, and also set up the oddball tone of the comedy fittingly. After about 1/3 of the unique narrative about two socially inept school teachers with atrocious dating skills, the story shifts into a series of predictable and cliché plot structures. Even worse than this predictability, however, are the scenes in which the improvisational comedy made me stop laughing and feel embarrassed for the actors. However uneven the overall experience of Slow Learners may be, there are enough funny scenes to make enduring the bad ones worthwhile.

 

Mistress America Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke

Director: Noah Baumbach

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: 20TH CENTURY FOX

Release Date: December 1, 2015

Run Time: 86 minutes

 

        I have struggled with much of Noah Baumbach’s filmmaking, if only because of his tendency to focus on narratives with extremely flawed characters. In some cases, this suits the stories being told. It would be difficult to show the strain of a divorce without exposing the way that it can bring out the worst in the family being torn apart, as he did with The Squid and the Whale. But even in that film the problem I had with the characters had little to do with the mistakes that they made, but rather, the superiority and condescension used as they refused to admit fault in themselves. From that film on, Baumbach has had a fascination with pretentious and unlikable leading characters, a trend which only seemed to increase as he began collaborating with actress Greta Gerwig, who rose into relevance through a movement of film centered around performances so intentionally raw that they are often more annoying than amusing.