After a few weeks of nice selection we have hit a bit of a wall this week with almost no box office titles and not a whole lot of anything else either. A few choice catalog releases, a few classic TV series seasons and one family box office title. These are your new releases for April 28, 2015.
First up this week is a show I have really been addicted to for years but nobody ever seems to be talking about. Covert Affairs: Season Five follows the exploits of Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), a young CIA operative working for the DPD, Domestic Protection Division. Along with her tech ops expert Auggie (Christopher Gorham), Annie navigated the world of espionage and intrigue all around the world in the interest of keeping her country safe.
Covert Affairs: Season Five is a perfect spy show that keeps things light and fun many times while still keeping interesting and full of action. And don’t let the lightness fool you, the storylines can get heavy and the action gets pretty intense. It may be a lighter version of a show like Strike Back but it still doesn’t pull its punches. In Season 5, after being ‘dark’ for months, Annie Walker returns to the DPD to stop an impending terrorist threat after a bombing in Chicago. The show has been consistently great over 5 seasons and actually seems to be getting more serious and more intense. Definitely a show that deserves a look.
Next up is a cult favorite film from the early 90s, Miami Blues. Alec Baldwin stars as Junior Frenger, an ex con on a crime spree in Miami Florida who has taken up with a naïve prostitute named Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and is pursued by a dogged police detective, Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward). After assaulting Moseley and stealing his credentials, Junior starts a crime wave passing himself off as a police detective.
Miami Blues is dark comedy at its bizarre best. Baldwin is mesmerizing as the psychotic Junior, a feather brained dope with a talent for crime and a penchant for violence. Leigh is the hooker with a heart of gold that just want to settle down with Junior and Fred Ward is hilarious as the denture wearing sad sack cop Moseley. Directed by George Armitage, who also helmed the excellent Grosse Pointe Blank, Miami Blues is a little known gem that finally get this excellent hi def treatment.
Last up this week is the new Jennifer Lopez thriller, The Boy Next Door. Lopez plays Claire Peterson, a newly separated high school teacher who regrets a one night stand with a new student who moves in next door to her. But when she tries to cut things off after the torrid night, the unbalanced young man wages a war against her determined to destroy her entire life if he can’t have her.
The Boy Next Door is definitely modeled after the mainstream thrillers of the 90s like Basic Instinct, Indecent Proposal and even Lopez own film Enough from 2002. The story does work well with the new boy, played by Ryan Guzman, being an attractive and seemingly mature man and Lopez’s character being in a vulnerable place in her life. And when things go awry, Guzman really cranks up the crazy and plays it well. While the film does have its fill of common thriller tropes, it is still a fun run of the mill thriller elevated slightly by the charisma of Lopez and Guzman. Worth checking out for fun retro thrills.
Other titles to keep an eye out for this week are Vincent Price’s last foray into horror, the anthology film From a Whisper to a Scream, the new Paul Thomas Anderson opus Inherent Vice with Joaquin Phoenix, and the adorably fun family flick Paddington.
Until next week movie lovers.
DVD and Blu-ray Releases for Tuesday April 28, 2015
Accidental Love
Affluenza
After Dark Originals: Bedlam
Covert Affairs: Season Five
From a Whisper to a Scream
Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw
Harry and Son*
Hollywood Shuffle*
I Love Lucy: I Heart Mom Edition
Inherent Vice
Last Days in Vietnam
Le Silence de la Mer – Criterion Collection*
Little Man Tate*
Lord of the Flies*
Miami Blues*
Mommy
My Little Pony Tales: The Complete TV Series
New Tricks: Season 11
Paddington
Royal Pains: Season Six
Sgt. Bilko – The Phil Silvers Show: Season Two
Suits: Season Four
The Almighty Johnson: The Complete Series
The Barber
The Boy Next Door
The Friends of Eddie Coyle – Criterion Collection*
The Gambler
The Jeffersons: Season 7
The Mentalist: The Complete Seventh and Final Season
The Mystery of Lord Lucan
The Snow Queen
*Catalog Blu-ray debut