#Middlebury #DVDs
“Downton Abbey” (PG) – When news that the king and queen of England are coming to Downton Abbey breaks, the Crawleys and staff embark on an exhaustive list of preparations for the royal visit. But the royals show up with their own staff – cook, butlers, housekeepers, the lot – and Mr. and Mrs. Bates team with Mrs. Patmore, Mrs. Hughes and even Mr. Carson to take back the house from the arrogant interlopers. Meantime, there’s plenty of intrigue upstairs involving a longstanding disagreement between the dowager countess Violet and a Crawley relative; Tom Branson, who is possibly suspected of still having Irish sympathies; and more of all the much beloved characters.
“Abominable” (PG) – In a lovely but predictable animated story about found family, an impressively oddball girl named Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet) lives in Shanghai and one day finds, to her surprise, a Yeti on the roof of her apartment building. And because she’s an impressive oddball, she and her pals befriend the adorably fluffy giant they nickname Everest, and vow to escort the magical beast to the highest mountain from whence he came. But they need to do it post haste, as the villainous Burnish (Eddie Izzard) is hot on the trail to collect Everest as a personal prize.
Brad Pitt in “Ad Astra” (20th Century Fox photo)
“Ad Astra” (PG-13) – Brad Pitt is at the center of this very cerebral film as astronaut Roy McBride, whose father (Tommy Lee Jones) was a pioneering space traveler who has been missing in the far reaches of our solar system for 16 years. McBride’s mission, among other things, is to reestablish contact, if able. It is a near-future world where space exploration and travel are much more accessible and ordinary, but still – at least for the outer planets – a treacherous proposition, evoking much deep internal struggles and self-questioning. The movie is beautiful but very slow in unfolding.
“Rambo: Last Blood” (R) – In a final (probably, hopefully) wrap-up to the “First Blood” story, we find John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) on his late father’s horse ranch, quietly enjoying his sunset years with adopted family Maria and her daughter, Gabriella (Yvette Monreal). But the type of demons in the former Green Beret can never be truly exorcised – and thank god, because when Gabriella is kidnapped in Mexico while trying to locate her birth father, it’s “Uncle John” who resurrects his special forces background to swoop in with some serious vengeance. There’s no nuanced storylines or plot twists; it’s flamethrower vengeance with a ton of blood, which is exactly as advertised.
New TV Releases
“Fuller House” Complete Fourth Season
“Killjoys” Season 5
“Hogan’s Heroes” The Complete Series
“The Returned” Season 2
“Bonanza: The Official Tenth Season Vol. 1”
© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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