This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: 11/22/63, Supergirl, Basket Case 2 & 3

By John Law

August 9th 2016, 2:41am

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

This Week: James Franco goes back to 1963 to save the prez, Season 1 of Supergirl, and a twinbill of Basket Case sequels.

► Based on Stephen King’s best book in decades, Hulu’s eight-part mini-series 11/22/63 has James Franco as a school teacher convinced to go back in time by his friend (Chris Cooper), a cook who discovers a portal at the back of his restaurant. Since it brings you back to 1960, they concoct a plan to prevent JFK’s assassination. It involves Franco laying low for three years while observing Lee Harvey Oswald (a creepy Daniel Webber) to make sure he is, indeed, the shooter. Sarah Gadon plays the librarian Franco falls for. Retains most of the book’s pleasures, including the bold ending. Extras look at how the book was adapted (never an easy thing with King), why a new character was inserted to help tell the story, and some cool King Easter Eggs scattered throughout the series.

► A lot of the light-hearted heroism fans miss in the recent Superman movies is the backbone of SUPERGIRL, which had a decent first season on CBS (#39 in the ratings) but was still shipped off to The CW for Season 2. Melissa Benoist dons the cape, sent to Earth as a young girl before Krypton exploded to protect her cousin, Kal El. Her ship veers off course, however, and by the time she arrives she’s already a full grown woman. The first season has her making her name in the superhero biz under her cousin’s shadow, with a crossover with The Flash in episode 18. Season 2 starts Oct. 10.

► A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING was the Tom Hanks movie no one’s heard of this year. And at just $4.2 million box office, it’s his worst performing flick in 30 years. Even so, it earned some glowing reviews and Hanks is typically solid as a depressed salesman whose life is falling apart. He goes to Saudi Arabia to try and convince the government to purchase a holographic teleconferencing system, where Islamic law puts him in some awkward situations. Based on Dave Eggers’ 2012 book.

► Procedurals…the last stand for network TV drama. They tried finding the next ‘Lost,’ but now just rely on endless variations of ‘CSI’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ For CBS’s CODE BLACK, Marcia Gay Harden leads a group of first-year residents through the daily grind of the country’s busiest emergency room in Los Angeles. Luis Guzman has some of the best moments as the demanding head nurse. Mixed reception for Season 1’s 18 episodes, so-so ratings, but it’ll be back for Season 2 Sept. 29.

► Frank Henenlotter’s ‘Basket Case’ might be the most lovably loony horror comedy ever, mainly because it never feels like it’s trying to be funny, it just ended up that way. Henenlotter was in on the joke for the sequels, which aim more for laughs than horror but deliver plenty of demented moments. BASKET CASE 2 (1990) finds Duane and his surgically separated blob of a brother Belial joining a family of other deformities, going all ‘Freaks’ on anyone threatening to expose them. For BASKET CASE 3: THE PROGENY (1991), Belial becomes a daddy, then goes to war with the cops who kidnapped his little monsters. Part 2 includes several flat out hilarious moments, along with two featurettes. Part 3 has the worst story but best creature effects. Both get a high-def transfer from the original 35 mm neg.

► Based on the Danish/Swedish series ‘The Bridge’ (which also inspired a U.S. version), the British/French co-production THE TUNNEL finds two detectives on each side of the border working a case in which one half of a French politician and one half of a British prostitute are left at the midway point of the Channel Tunnel. Aired in 2013 and has since had a second season. Stephan Dillon (who you know as Stannis Baratheon) and Clemence Poesy star.

► Can Evrenol’s Turkish horror flick BASKIN has five police officers answering a distress call from an eerie, isolated town. Once there, they enter an abandoned building, where things get surreal and considerably gory on the way to a twisted ending. Horror buffs celebrated this debut effort from Evrenol, drawing plenty of comparisons to Lucio Fulci.

Also out this week: