This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Avengers Age of Ultron, Entourage

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

This Week: A loaded week includes Round 2 with The Avengers, the Poltergeist remake no one asked for, an Entourage reunion, and the rest of Outlander’s first season.

► Turns out, many of the concerns over AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON were justified – too many characters, overstuffed storylines, a less appealing villain. It seems to set up other movies instead of being the movie all the rest were building to. But what works is spectacular, as director Joss Whedon brings the same humor and sense of awe at seeing these iconic heroes together that he did the first time. He spends a bit more time on Black Widow and Hawkeye this time, and there’s a cool hint of the Civil War hostilities to come between Iron Man and Captain America. Even Hulk has a poignant moment or two. Yes, you can quibble at stuff, but Whedon has made two intelligent, gigantic Marvel movies that delivered the goods. The slim extras – a few deleted scenes and featurettes – signal a director’s cut to come.

► The best and worst thing you can say about ENTOURAGE: THE MOVIE is that it’s just an extended episode of the show. Fearing his next movie will be a bomb, Vince convinces Ari – now a studio head – to let him direct. When things go over budget, the prick son of the movie’s co-financier (Haley Joel Osment, who hasn’t been this good in years) flies in to make their lives miserable. Along the way Turtle tries to bang Ronda Rousey, Eric has a baby with his ex-girlfriend, and Drama finally flirts with respect. If you aren’t deeply invested in the show, nothing here makes sense or is even interesting. The whole movie seems designed for a cameo every 30 seconds. Pointless as it is, there’s enough here to redeem some of that horrible final season, and it’s awesome to get Jeremy Piven back in Ari mode. Extras include the inevitable bro reunion and deleted scenes.

► One of the most hated movies of 2015 before it even saw theatres, POLTERGEIST is the poster child for pointlessness. A movie with no apparent purpose, geared to fans who reject it on principle. Haven’t horror buffs made it clear by now how much they despise these remakes? They fail over and over again, and what’s the end result? A new ‘Exorcist,’ of course. Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt are the parents this time, going through the motions as their youngest daughter gets lured by spirits into a paranormal void. Director Gil Jenan pays homage to all the benchmark scenes – the tree branches, the clown – like a cover band recreating Zeppelin. No matter how slick it is, it’s all just a facsimile to something better. That matters to people. This deservedly bombed, but not enough to kill the trend.

► Melissa McCarthy wipes away the disappointment of last summer’s ‘Tammy’ with the espionage romp SPY. Uniting her for the third time with director Paul Feig (who’s also doing the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot), she stars as a CIA analyst who goes into the field after her partner (Jude Law) is gunned down. Rose Byrne and Jason Statham provide nearly as many laughs as McCarthy.

► The CW’s iZOMBIE, from ‘Veronica Mars’ creator Rob Thomas, finds a Seattle medical student (Rosie McIver) becoming a zombie after a bad boat party. As long as she eats she can maintain appearances, so to keep her cover she works as an assistant at the coroner’s office, scarfing brains of the recently deceased. The catch is, she absorbs some of their memories and personality traits, which comes in handy when the victim was murdered. Based on the Vertigo comic, the 13-episode first season earned plenty of buzz. Extras include the 2014 Comic Con panel.

► Back in 1983, a John Carpenter movie based on a Stephen King book was as good as it got in horror. Alas, CHRISTINE was a throwaway for both of them, a lightweight thriller about a haunted car which allows its nerdy owner (Keith Gordon) to get revenge on his bullies and make strides with the ladies. A fun bit of spooky fluff during a time King could do no wrong. Carpenter and Gordon provide blu-ray commentary. The book was released in April that year, and the movie came out eight months later. And yet, we still can’t get a proper movie for his masterpiece, ‘The Stand.’

► The second half of OUTLANDER’s first season finds time-skipping Claire dealing with the fallout of her last minute rescue from Randall (Tobias Menzies, as one of TV’s current great villains), her arrest on suspicion of witchcraft, and finally telling new hubby Jamie that she’s actually from 200 years in the future. A bit of everything in this addictive series from Starz – sci-fi, period drama, romance, and a great anchor in Caitriona Balfe as the heroine of Diana Gaboldon’s eight books.

► In ZIPPER, Patrick Wilson is a prosecutor whose new intern is infatuated with him. Of all the stupid things he can do next, he chooses to quell his boner by going to a pricey escort. Again and again. Pretty soon he’s being groomed for Congress, forcing him to keep his little side project away from the press, the cops and his wife (Lena Headey). The Eliot Spitzer vibe gives it a tawdry made-for-TV feel.

Also out this week: