This week on home video, we’ve got a couple of Certified Fresh releases: Gareth Edwards’ reboot of an iconic Japanese monster movie franchise, and a YA novel adaptation that was a hit with fans and critics alike. Then we’ve got a ton of TV being released, along with a comedy sequel, a Criterion edition of a David Lynch film, and a 40th anniversary of a horror classic. Read on for details:
Before stepping behind the camera for Warner Bros’ reboot of Godzilla, Gareth Edwards only had one big screen feature under his belt. That film, however, was Monsters, a similarly themed story about giant aliens walking the Earth that he also wrote and provided visual effects. With a budget over 300 times as large as that of Monsters and a cast that included names like Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth Olsen, Godzilla surprised a lot of folks still reeling from Roland Emmerich’s 1998 flopped attempt. Certified Fresh at 73 percent on the Tomatometer, the 2014 update could possibly have used a bit more action from the big guy himself, but critics largely felt the film maintained a fine balance between its human drama and its spectacular setpieces. The Blu-ray comes with three featurettes presented as items from within the movie’s universe and four longer featurettes on the making of the film.
One of the few young adult novel adaptations not intended to spark a franchise, The Fault in Our Stars featured a shocking lack of dystopian landscapes, oppressive governments, and conveniently categorized teens hungry for revolt. Thankfully, it didn’t need any of that to satisfy fans of the source material and impress critics to the tune of a Certified Fresh 80 percent. Hazel (Shailene Woodley), a spunky high schooler with terminal cancer, meets Augustus (Ansel Elgort), whose own battle with osteosarcoma resulted in an amputated leg, at a support meeting, and the two immediately form a bond and eventually fall in love. The tale is a simple one, but critics found it honest, thought-provoking, and mature, without resorting to cheap, unearned sentimentality. There isn’t much specific info available on the release’s bonus features, but we do know there are six promotional items totaling about 11 minutes. Also, Ansel Elgort is a terrific name.
Back in 2012, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Michael Ealy, and Regina Hall headlined an ensemble comedy based on a relationship advice book by Steve Harvey, and though the critics were fairly split on the film, it resonated with audiences to the tune of $96 million. Enlisting the same cast as the first film, Think Like a Man Too follows the gang as they travel to Las Vegas for the wedding (and requisite premarital festivities) of Michael (Terrence J) and Candace (Hall). Compromising situations arise, dirty laundry is aired, and high jinks ensue. Unfortunately, critics were even less enthusiastic this time around, saddling the film with a mediocre 24 percent on the Tomatometer; though Kevin Hart remains a comic force of nature, the film borrows too heavily from other Vegas party movies and basically reiterates the same points hammered home by its predecessor. The Blu-ray comes with the expected gag reel, some deleted scenes, and a few featurettes on the making of the film.
