#Middlebury #DVDs
“21 Bridges” (R) – Chadwick Boseman stars as a detective with a reputation for tracking down and dealing with cop killers in a gripping drama set in New York City. Two low-level crooks attempt to pinch what they think is a small amount of cocaine when they are interrupted by couple of cops, whom they kill in a shootout. Enter Det. Andre Davis, NYPD’s finest bad guy catcher. The manhunt is on, and there’s no escape as the 21 bridges into and out of Manhattan are shut down for the night. But before dawn, blurred lines between right and wrong may have trapped a different villain.
Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers (Sony Pictures photo)
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (PG) – Inspired by real life and written about a real-life inspiration, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is a loving biopic of Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). His story is told through the eyes of an emotional skeptic, Esquire magazine writer Lloyd (Matthew Rhys), who is assigned to write a short article on Rogers as a hero. His graciousness and empathy, kindness and love are on unapologetic display in everything he does, so it’s no surprise that interviewing Rogers – who touched so many people’s hearts, both young and old – changes Lloyd.
“Jojo Rabbit” (PG-13) – Young Jojo is a Hitler Youth believer. He believes it so hard that Adolf Hitler is his imaginary friend (played hilariously by Taika Waititi, who also writes and directs), the one who gives him a bucking up when the boys at camp come down on him. He has a perennially positive and optimistic single mother (Scarlett Johansson) who is hiding a Jewish former classmate of his late sister in the attic. His discovery of Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) leads Jojo to reflect on his own nationalistic beliefs and racism while the makeshift family confronts the last days of World War II. Also stars Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson as youth camp administrators.
“Midway” (PG-13) – Director Roland Emmerich revives an aerial World War II drama in his remake of the 1976 classic. It’s not the wartime story told in microcosm through the personal drama of a single soldier, it’s as sweeping as the sky and as vast as the Pacific. In fact, the story unfolds quickly and it’s rife with heroic and dramatic acts sandwiched between tense moments of furious contemplation. If all this seems like I’m laying it on thick, that’s the vibe. It’s a classic war story told by and about good-looking, clean-shaven men in uniform doing their best for America, and some of them tragically dying in service of our nation.
New TV Releases
“The Twilight Zone” Season 1
“Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series” SteelBook and Blu-ray
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” The complete series
“The Good Karma Hospital” Series 3
© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
You must be logged in to post a comment.