Vintage-film fans will want to check out the new Blu-ray upgrade for a Frank Capra classic, and younger moviegoers will be pleased to see “Ant-Man” and “Minions” on Blu-ray and DVD this week.
“You Can’t Take it With You” (Columbia, 1938, b/w, not rated, audio commentary, featurette, trailer; 24-page Digibook packaging). Filmmaker Frank Capra won three best-director Oscars over five years in the 1930s, his third for this adaptation of the hilarious Kaufman-Hart play.
Today, the film feels a bit flabby, not quite as taut as such other Capra classics as “It Happened One Night,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and, of course, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But it is still a most enjoyable, and often very funny, film, and seems to foreshadow “Wonderful Life” in some ways.
Jean Arthur and James Stewart head a wonderful ensemble cast of familiar character players, including Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, Ann Miller (at age 15), Spring Byington, Dub Taylor and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson. Stewart plays the son of a wealthy businessman, and he’s in love with lowly stenographer Arthur. His parents disapprove, of course, so the couple brings the two families together, but it’s inevitable that Arthur’s extremely eccentric extended relatives and hangers-on will make the gathering disastrous.
It should also be noted that while many Blu-rays with booklet packaging merely fill them with studio photos, the 24-page book here includes a thoughtful eight-page essay, an overview of the film and, by extension, Capra’s work.
“Ant-Man” (Marvel/Disney, 2015, PG-13, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). A small-time burglar (Paul Rudd) trying to go straight is picked by a scientist (Michael Douglas) to become a superhero with his “Ant-Man” suit, which shrinks him to the size of the insect but also gives him incredible strength. I confess that I felt some superhero fatigue going into this one, but the film turned out to be a lot of fun, primarily because it employs so much comedy. In fact, it partners with “Guardians of the Galaxy” as the funniest of the Marvel adventures, and therefore, one of the best. (Available in Blu-ray 3-D as well as Blu-ray and DVD.)
“Minions” (Universal, 2015, PG, deleted scene, featurettes, three new mini-movies, trailers). The diminutive henchmen of the Despicable Me animated features get their own movie with this prequel, which has the little yellow guys going through a series of harrowing comic adventures as they search for a villain to serve. It's an amusing family comedy with some well-choreographed sight gags. (Available in Blu-ray 3-D as well as Blu-ray and DVD.)
“Get Santa” (Lionsgate, 2014, PG, featurette, trailers). Jim Broadbent stars in this very broad British family comedy as Santa Claus, whose sled crashes in a London suburb, causing his reindeer to run off. When an ex-con and his son find Santa sleeping in their garage, the jolly old elf enlists their help in finding his reindeer so he can get back on track to fulfill his Christmas Eve round-the-world duties.
“Christmas Mix” (Monarch, 2014, not rated). With a plot purloined from one of the story threads of the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland,” this straight-to-video feature has Haylie Duff playing the small-town-Colorado radio host of a call-in advice program who is paired with an ex-Los Angeles radio personality (Tilky Jones) who has been banished to the backwoods. Naturally, it’s hate at first sight, and just as naturally, love will gradually develop. Maureen McCormick co-stars.
“Merry Ex-Mas” (Monarch, 2014, not rated). This Ion TV movie is sort of a lower-budget Hallmark or Lifetime channel-style holiday comedy with Dean Cain as a bodyguard and Kristy Swanson as his wife. She believes the doctored photos of her husband in compromising positions with his pop-star client and files for divorce, despite his protestations. Things come to a head when all three, along with the couple’s extended family members, find themselves snowed in at a cabin on Christmas Eve.
“One & Two” (IFC/Shout!, 2015, not rated). With echoes of M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village,” this independent fantasy is focused on a family that lives a rural 19th-century pioneer-style life within a compound enclosed by high walls. The father is abusive and the young brother and sister have the power of teleportation. So, is that wall designed to keep them in or to keep others out?
“One Eyed Girl” (Dark Sky, 2015, not rated, audio commentary, featurettes, trailer). This low-budget Australian effort is a disturbing look at a troubled young psychiatrist on a downward spiral after a patient to whom he was a little too close commits suicide. When he stumbles onto a doomsday cult through a teenage girl and is won over by its charismatic leader, he thinks he’s found redemption. But all is not as it seems, of course.
“Partisan” (Well Go, 2015, not rated, featurette, trailer). Another Australian thriller, this one set in the dystopian future as a cult leader (Vincent Cassel) with a compound filled with women and “adopted” children trains the young ones as assassins, giving them missions to fulfill. When one of the boys begins to rebel, the leader’s controlled little world begins to unravel.
“Knock Knock” (Lionsgate, 2015; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; deleted scene, audio commentary, featurette, photo gallery). Keanu Reeves stars in this twisty thriller as a happily married architect who is home alone for the weekend after his wife takes a holiday with their children. Unexpectedly, two young women knock on his door asking for help, but when he lets them in, they seduce him and eventually take him hostage.
Chris Hicks is the author of "Has Hollywood Lost Its Mind? A Parent’s Guide to Movie Ratings." He also writes at www.hicksflicks.com and can be contacted at hicks@deseretnews.com.