New on DVD:
Mr. Robot: Season One
What would you do if you had the power to bring down the top one percent of the top one per cent? Cyber-security engineer by day, vigilante hacker by night, Elliot (Rami Malek) is recruited (by Christian Slater, no less) to bring down the very conglomerate he works for. It’s an edgy, thrilling, politically savvy series that also expounds on our need for human connection, and Malek is a great find. The Blu-ray combo pack also contains a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and a gag reel. Â
The Visit
Little Red Riding Hood and M. Night Shyamalan have a lot to answer for: a trip to nana and pop pop’s has never been more terrifying. Becca and Tyler (Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould) are sent to their grandparents’ Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong stay, but things quickly progress from strange to deadly at the elderly couple’s homestead. Peter McRobbie and Deanna Dunagan are suitably creepy; Kathryn Hahn plays the single mom who’s so grateful for a break that she ignores her kids’ pleas to come home. Great return to form for Shyamalan, with plenty of thrills, black humour and yes, a twist. Included in the Blu-ray combo pack are a making-of feature, alternate ending, deleted scenes and a Becca’s Photos featurette. Â
Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
In this Walking-Dead-meets-Revenge-of-the-Nerds raunch-com, three dorky boy scouts and a stripper (“cocktail waitress”) team up to purge their town of the undead after disaster strikes. “Come on, we’re scouts, we’re trained for this!” says Augie (Joey Morgan) optimistically. Ben (Tye Sheridan) and Carter (Logan Miller) are less convinced, but between their scouting know-how and Denise’s (Sarah Dumont) steady shotgun hand, they muddle bloodily through. Bonus features on the Blu-ray include a making-of featurette, extras on makeup, costume design and zombie choreography, and deleted scenes.
Roger Waters The Wall
The Wall Live concert was seen by over four million fans during 2010-2013, the highest-grossing tour by any solo artist in history. Written and directed by Roger Waters and Sean Evans, Roger Waters The Wall is part commemoration of that tour, part tangible concert event, and part memoir of how war taxed Waters’ own family. Shot in 4K, it’s an amazing achievement, a must-see for Pink Floyd fans and anyone who appreciates live spectacle. The two-disc Blu-ray pack offers more than 80 minutes of bonus features including outtakes and live appearances by David Gilmour and Nick Mason.
Pawn Sacrifice
Bobby Fischer has been profiled before on film, but Tobey Maguire goes for broke as the chess prodigy who, by the end of his career, was teetering on the edge of genius and mental illness. Hard to believe that the world was captivated by a chess game, but that’s what happened in 1972, as Fischer faced off against Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) in a match with deep political symbolism. Director Edward Zwick chronicles the touchstones of Bobby’s childhood — his neglectful single mother (Robin Weigart), the Catholic priest who nourished his talent (Peter Sarsgaard) — but the film succeeds because of the performances, not a move out of place. The DVD contains a lengthy featurette: “Bobby Fischer, the Cold War and the Match of the Century.
