This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Ex Machina, It Follows, Paul Blart 2

By John Law

July 13th 2015, 11:19pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

This Week: Man makes sexy time with Ex Machina, the year’s horror highlight It Follows, and the Paul Blart sequel someone wanted. Somewhere.

► Alex Garland’s EX MACHINA is another reminder you don’t need a big budget to make great sci-fi. For what it cost to likely keep Schwarzenegger’s trailer air conditioned on the last Terminator flick, he takes a fresh approach to a familiar concept: Machines becoming self-aware. Domhnall Gleeson is a programmer asked by an eccentric CEO to administer a test program into his AI named Ava (Alicia Vikander). It’s a spectacular success, but as they discover, giving something human traits includes emotions they didn’t account for. Beautiful looking movie makes the most of its minimal effects, but the real joy is watching men and machine interact in ways we haven’t seen before. Much like ‘Her,’ it provides an uncomfortably plausible glimpse of the near future. During another noisy summer in theatres, this is a nice break.

► A throwback thriller the horror crowd went nuts for this year, IT FOLLOWS is an ingenious mix of ‘Halloween’ and ’The Ring’ from director David Robert Mitchell. A supernatural curse is passed on via sex in which the person affected can see an entity is following them. It sounds hokey, but there’s something incredibly creepy about something constantly pursuing you, and Mitchell wrings it for maximum tension. A skillfully made gift to horror fans. But please, no sequel.

► Picture the least anticipated sequel of the year. Then go a few levels below that, and you have PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2. One of the enduring mysteries of modern comedy is why Kevin James isn’t mid-90s Jim Carrey popular by now, because he is a genuinely funny, likeable dude. But this shamefully witless sequel does him no favors, bringing Paul Blart back to save the day at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas (the first time the hotel has allowed filming) during a security officers’ convention. James should be so far past crap like this by now. Instead, you just know he’s waiting for that ‘Grown Ups 3’ script.

► And speaking of more needless than usual sequels, here’s Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and the rest of the gang for THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL. Where the first was a reflective comedy about seniors rebounding from some lousy luck late in their lives at a retirement hotel in India, Part 2 is just a stale sitcom with less charm and more Richard Gere.

► For (deep breath) X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST: THE ROGUE CUT, director Bryan Singer revisits his triumphant return to the X-Universe to include much more Anna Paquin, who was surprisingly underserved in the theatrical version. A lengthy sequence with her is reinserted, which changes one key scene slightly. In total, there are 17 extra minutes added, and while it adds to an already crowded movie, it diminishes nothing. Singer nailed this flick, and now there’s more of it.

► POWERS was originally supposed to be an FX show a few years back, but instead became the Playstation Network’s first scripted series. Based on the Brian Michael Bendis comic, it’s set in a seedy world where humans and superheroes – known as ‘powers’ – try to co-exist. Sharlto Copley is a detective in the Powers division who had his ability to fly stripped away by his mentor. Susan Heyward is his wise-ass partner. The scripts lack Bendis’ verbal flair – really the best thing about the books – but after a bumpy start the show found its groove by the season finale. Eddie Izzard and Michelle Forbes are a bonus.

► After five seasons, ADVENTURE TIME has safely carved itself a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of beloved animated series. Actually, I can’t recall a ‘toon that so brilliantly worked on such different frequencies – conceptually deep fantasy which maintains its guise as a charming kiddie show. The stacked Season 5 doubled the normal number of episodes to 52, spanning nearly a year and a half on the Cartoon Network. Once you dive in, you’ll be hooked. It’s pretty much guaranteed.

► Sometimes, you have to grow up to recognize a brilliant children’s movie. When I first saw THE BLACK STALLION in 1979, it seemed slow. Ponderous. Mostly quiet. Years later, I realized that’s what makes it the perfect family movie. With themes ‘E.T.’ would revisit a few years later, it’s about a boy who befriends a wild Arabian stallion who are shipwrecked on a deserted island. Those early scenes on the island are gorgeously shot with little to no dialogue. Things get more conventional near the end with a huge race, but there isn’t a false note in this beautiful movie. Criterion special edition includes new talk with director Carroll Ballard and essay from critic Michael Sragow.

Also out this week: