This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Kung Fu Panda 3, Eye in the Sky

By John Law

June 28th 2016, 10:29am

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

This Week: Kung Fu Panda back for thirds, pushing buttons with Eye in the Sky, and a Kubrick classic from Criterion.

► Sequel fatigue is the box office story of 2016, and it started with KUNG FU PANDA 3 in January. While still a moderate hit at $145 million in North America, that’s less than Part 2 and WAY less than Part 1. Reviews were still solid though, and there’s no lack of star power: Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Bryan Cranston join Jack Black in the voicework department, and the animation is still top notch (if getting a bit repetitive). For this one, Po trains a village of clumsy pandas to help battle a supernatural foe (J.K. Simmons) who steals his opponents’ chi.

► With shades of the great ‘Crimson Tide,’ Gavin Hood’s EYE IN THE SKY has Helen Mirren as a UK colonel in charge of a drone operation who gives the order to bomb a safehouse in Kenya where two suicide bombers are planning a mission. But when a small girl is spotted in the kill zone, the decision to fire is delayed, and when surveillance of the bombers is lost the need to fire becomes more urgent. In one of his final movies, Alan Rickman plays Mirren’s Lt. General.

► Based on Kim Barker’s memoir ’The Taliban Shuffle,’ WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT has Tina Fey as a TV journalist covering crap stories who takes a gig as war correspondent in Afghanistan. What was supposed to be a short assignment turns into years as she finds a new purpose. Martin Freeman is an obnoxious freelance photographer and Margot Robbie is an Australian correspondent.

► Every generation that discovers Stanley Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE (no, I’m not typing the full pain-in-the-ass title) says the same thing: This movie has never felt more relevant. It still holds true today. The comic ineptitude, the awesome stupidity going on behind the political curtain cuts closer than ever. The Cold War masterpiece gets a restored 4K transfer from The Criterion Collection, to go with portions of a 1966 Kubrick audio interview, four short documentaries on the making of the film, 1963 interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott and thoughts from Kubrick scholars. It’s never a bad idea to own this movie.

► Sorry George Clooney, but you cannot destroy every copy of RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES. For the 1988 sequel to the cult classic, he plays the suave roommate to the film’s actual star (um, Anthony Starke) who take on John Astin and his tomato militia. Special Edition includes new commentary from director John De Bello, a new interview with Starke and a collector’s booklet. But Clooney’s mullet is the most special feature of all.

► The genius of Ray Harryhausen has been documented plenty over the years, but Gilles Penso’s RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN aims to be the definitive look at the man who ushered in a love of movies for so many of us. Includes interviews with the likes of James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro. The surest sign of Harryhausen’s brilliance is that after nearly 30 years of CGI effects, his stop motion work is still a thrill to watch.

► The Granddaddy of all web series, RED vs. BLUE gathers Seasons 11 to 13 for ‘The Chorus Trilogy,’ in which our hapless Halo civil war combatants are shipwrecked on a planet called Chorus, and must put their bickering aside to fend off a new enemy. Still funny and innovative after all these years. Season 14 started in May.

► When the thriller TWO-MINUTE WARNING was released in 1976, it was blasted for its gun-related violence and bleak subject matter. Oh 1976, you seem so quaint now. Charlton Heston plays a police captain trying to stop a sniper at the L.A. Coliseum after he was spotted by a Goodyear Blimp camera during a championship football game. All hell breaks loose at the two minute warning, causing a riot for the exits. Blu-ray includes the shamefully shitty TV broadcast version, which added a lame art theft subplot because NBC was uncomfortable with a psycho sniper acting alone.

Also out this week: