All Is Lost (3.5 stars out of 5) — Robert Redford makes the most of his emotional and historical collateral as he plays a solo sailor stuck on a sinking yacht in this minimal piece of suspense from Margin Call director J.C. Chandor. Tugging on the rich threads of American fiction, Chandor positions Redford as the aging Alpha male trying to use his wits and fading brawn to stay alive. Thanks to Redford’s stressed out brand of stoicism, Chandor carefully draws the line separating denial from despair, and in so doing, creates a movie that speaks directly to the American ethos. Special features include audio commentary with Chandor, preparing for the storm, time-lapse footage and more.
The Armstrong Lie (3.5 stars out of 5) — Documentary director Alex Gibney thought he would be making the ultimate American hero story when started filming Lance Armstrong’s return to the Tour de France in 2009. Instead, he captured the infamous downfall after Armstrong was found guilty of doping, and banned from cycling for life. Built around two long, in-depth interviews with its subject — one before the scandal and one after — The Armstrong Lie intercuts the myth with the besmirched reality and finds little difference between the two. Never before has professional sport looked so corrupt, and never before has branding looked so amoral. Special features include commentary with Gibney, Q & A material, deleted scenes and more.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong is shown in a scene from the film The Armstrong Lie.
Spinning Plates (3.5 stars out of 5) — In these days of cult chefs and celebrity cooks, a documentary about restaurateurs feels like stuffing a full stomach. Yet, Joseph Levy’s look at three very different worlds of food is stuffed with goodness. By juxtaposing the experience of top chef Grant Achatz (Alinea) with small town establishments, the film finds the glitz of Michelin dining as well as the glaze of the local doughnut, and everything a homey bite represents to middle America. A must for anyone in the industry, and those who recognize a good burrito is as meaningful as a five-course gastronomic extravaganza, Spinning Plates is a satisfying dish. Special features unavailable.
How I Live Now (3.5 stars out of 5) — Saoirse Ronan stars as Daisy, a surly American teenager who visits her relatives in Britain on the eve of the Third World War. When the big one explodes over London and vaporizes the rule of law, Daisy and her young cousins are forced to fend for themselves. Part tween love story and part apocalyptic nightmare, director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) realizes he’s working with opposite narrative forces that will never fully fuse, but he nonetheless finds the right notes of panic and dread to create a terrifying, surprising and frequently moving experience that mines teen navel-gazing down to the existential nub. Special features include a short featurette.
Saoirse Ronan in a scene from How I Live Now.
Ender’s Game (2 stars out of 5) — You can see what they were getting at with this science-fiction story about child soldiers, but Ender’s Game is still a bore. A dry and often irritating tale of a conspicuously gifted boy named Ender (Asa Butterfield), this hollow epic foresees a somewhat-distant future where human beings are at war with aliens. A weird science-fiction story imagined by Orson Scott Card only gets weirder in the hands of Gavin Hood, who tries to humanize material that’s largely robotic. Harrison Ford and Viola Davis have a handful of decent scenes, but the rest of the movie feels stuck in orbit because we don’t really care about our hero or his little friends. Special features include Ender’s World: The Making of Ender’s Game, feature-length commentary with producers Robert Orci and Gigi Pritzker.
The Summit (3 stars out of 5) — Using photographs, personal testimony from survivors and a complex series of recreations using actors and stunt climbers, director Nick Ryan reassembles the jigsaw pieces of the 2008 climbing tragedy on K2, where 11 out of 18 climbers perished over 48 hours. Despite some confusing chunks, Ryan transcends the genre’s inherent clichés by offering a spiritual angle to the saga by interviewing Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, who along with Ger McDonnell, tried to save stranded alpinists in the “death zone.” Pemba survived, McDonnell did not, and hearing the hows and whys of what happened brings the heartbreak into human perspective. No special features.
Pemba in The Summit.
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (3.5 stars out of five) — In case it wasn’t obvious, the punk movement was never big on prayer, so let that be your first clue about where this documentary from Max Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner is coming from. Crafted in a jelly mould of anarchy, this hastily assembled portrait of Katia, Nadia and Masha — the now-notorious members of the band Pussy Riot — captures the essence of the ideological turmoil festering in everyday Russia. Religion is starting to fill the existential vacuum of failed communism, leading to a rise in nationalism and Draconian crackdown on free speech. Even when the movie is over, one gets the feeling this is just the beginning. Special features include news conference footage.
The Counselor (2 stars out of 5) — Ridley Scott isn’t known for missteps as a director, but this latest outing adapted from an original script by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) feels entirely incomplete and rather ineffective. A cautionary tale starring Michael Fassbender as a slick Texas lawyer looking to get rich quick, Scott fills each frame with glam and major celebrity (Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Cameron Diaz) but he fails to find any emotional thread to make us care about the story itself as our lawyer ends up knee-deep in a drug deal gone bad. Special features include extended cut and more.
Javier Bardem, left, and Cameron Diaz in The Counselor. Too absurd to be terrifying.
Wadjda (3.5 stars out of 5) Wadjda (Waad Mohammed) wants to beat her neighbour at a bike race. The only problem is she doesn’t own a bike, nor can she ride one, because in Saudi Arabia girls aren’t supposed to straddle a two-wheeler and pedal around town like Audrey Hepburn. First-time feature director Haifaa Al Mansour doesn’t veil the issues in this history-making effort. She tackles the bogeymen in the light of day, and lets them manifest as everyday realities in the lives of her flawed but lovable characters. Despite the elements of cliché, the movie still feels fresh because the plot details feel so foreign.
Best Man Holiday (2.5 stars out of 5) — Taye Diggs and Morris Chestnut reprise their roles as best friends who were torn asunder when one betrayed the other. Now, 15 years after graduating from college, the once-crazy kids are all grown up with families and they’re facing the biggest challenge yet: A holiday reunion that will rekindle old flames and possibly burn the house down. Director-writer Malcolm D. Lee tries to go deep, but he gets the most points when he stays shallow. It feels more human. The drama never works. Fortunately, the clothes do. Special features include commentary.
Robyn (Sanaa Lathan, left) and Harper (Taye Diggs) in The Best Man Holiday
Also released Feb. 11:
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Anna Nicole
Austenland
The Americans: Complete First Season
Blood Brother
Les Beaux jours
Chicago Diamond Edition
Dallas
Diana
Doctor Who: The Moonbase
Eugene Onegin
Festival Express (Blu-ray)
GBF
Jeff Beck Years
Jewtopia
The Jungle Book: Diamond Edition
Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series
Killing Kennedy
The Last Days of Pompeii
Lou Reed Tribute
Max and Ruby: Everybody Loves Spring
Mullets on Fire
Sherlock: Season Three
WWE: Shawn Michaels