Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on Facebook and Twitter with your friends.
“Kingsman: The Secret Service”
WHAT: Lower-class delinquent Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) is recruited by a secret spy organization called the Kingsman to participate in their ultra-competitive training program. Meanwhile, his benefactor Harry Hart (Colin Firth) investigates a potential global threat involving a tech-genius billionaire (Samuel L. Jackson) who wants to save the Earth from the dangerous effects of climate change by wiping out most of humanity.
WHY: After subverting the superhero genre with “Kick-Ass,” the creative team behind that film has returned with an equally over-the-top homage to spy movies. Developed separately from the Mark Millar-penned comic on which it’s loosely based, Vaughn’s movie improves on that version in just about every way, delivering a smarter (but no less absurd) take on Cold War-era spy movies that embraces as many genre conventions as it breaks. Colin Firth is excellent as the badass super-spy, and newcomer Taron Egerton shines in his debut role, but it’s Samuel L. Jackson who steals the show as the megalomaniacal Valentine. Many people will be quick to compare the film to “Kick-Ass,” but while the former boasts the same punk-rock attitude, dark plot twists, and kinetic, no-holds-barred action sequences, “Kingsman” feels less like a satire of an entire genre than the product of a filmmaker who grew up loving spy movies. Though it doesn’t get too caught up in trying to make any logical sense of is preposterous conspiracy plot or colorful villains, that’s perfectly fine, because in the age of the overserious spy film, this is exactly the bold, silly kick up the ass that the genre needed.
EXTRAS: There’s a six-part behind-the-scenes featurette and a trio of photo galleries.
FINAL VERDICT: RENT
“Project Almanac”
WHAT: After he notices his adult self in the background of an old family video, MIT student David Raskin (Jonny Weston) and his friends uncover blueprints for a time travel device in his father’s workshop. But when they build a functioning prototype and begin changing the past, it inadvertently effects their future.
WHY: On paper, “Project Almanac” sounds like a pretty cool idea for a short film, but there’s not enough story to warrant a feature-length movie. The characters don’t even make their first successful time jump until halfway through the sluggish 106-minute runtime, which means that the entire opening act is spent twiddling your thumbs while you wait for something significant to happen. None of the protagonists are even remotely interesting, and although two of them are supposedly really smart (they use a bunch of scientific terminology, so they must be), they don’t think to turn off the video camera while robbing supplies from their high school. Dumbasses. Of course, that’s the very nature of the found footage genre, but the gimmick doesn’t do anything to elevate the storytelling that validates its employment, often breaking its own rules in order to show intimate moments that the audience wouldn’t otherwise be privy to. “Project Almanac” had the potential to be a lot better, but like most time travel movies, it’s more interested in what its characters do with the ability than the gaping plot holes and inconsistent logic that follows.
EXTRAS: There’s an alternate opening and ending, as well as some deleted scenes.
FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
“Serena”
WHAT: Set in North Carolina during the infancy of the Great Depression, timber magnate George Pemberton (Bradley Cooper) impulsively marries the headstrong Serena (Jennifer Lawrence), who quickly proves her worth as a formidable business partner. But as the newlyweds meet resistance from local law enforcement, they’ll stop at nothing to protect their empire.
WHY: Susanne Bier’s period drama was filmed back in 2012, and if the director is to be believed, it was during that time between post-production and its eventual release where she lost creative control of the movie to the studio. And quite frankly, it’s easy to see how that might be the case, because while “Serena” has the makings of an interesting film, it’s marred by some sloppy editing and bad pacing, ultimately devolving into a melodramatic mess that seriously questions how anyone thought the source material (Ron Rash’s 2008 novel of the same name) was worthy of a big screen adaptation. Though Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both deliver solid performances, their onscreen chemistry is lacking, which isn’t surprising considering that the story (and their characters’ relationship, in particular) feels so rushed. Several plotlines appear to have been trimmed down to the bare necessity, losing any emotional weight in the process, while the various plot turns are as predictable as they are poorly handled. The movie isn’t as terrible as some would lead you to believe, but that doesn’t make the disappointment sting any less.
EXTRAS: There’s a making-of featurette that focuses on the story, direction and characters, additional featurettes on production design, adapting the novel and creating the set, as well as some deleted scenes.
FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
