This Week in Blu-ray / DVD Releases: Ricki and the Flash, Shaun the Sheep

By John Law

November 23rd 2015, 11:02pm

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

This Week: Meryl Streep kicks out the jams, Shaun the Sheep goes solo, and a third serving of Amy Schumer.

► It may not be Oscar nomination #20 for her, but Meryl Streep is still pretty fab in RICKI AND THE FLASH. For this breezy Jonathan Demme flick – written by Diablo Cody – she plays a rock star who flipped off her family to seek fame. Things didn’t work out, but she gets a chance to make amends when her ex-husband (Kevin Kline) asks her to come home to help their mess of a daughter. But coming home is like that upcoming Guns ‘n Roses reunion – bound to get messy. Rick Springfield and Mamie Gummer co-star. Blu-ray includes deleted scenes and ‘Rediscovering Rick Springfield.’ He never went away, dammit!

► Twenty years after he appeared in a ‘Wallace and Gromit’ short comes the SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE. Our fleecy friend is forced to retrieve his farmer, suffering amnesia in the big city after a prank gone wrong. With no dialogue, the entire story is told through animal noises and classic sight gags. All told, it was one of the most critically adored movies of the year. As always with Aardman Animations, the stop-motion is a constant delight and a nice break from the endless CGI kiddie flicks.

► The stoner comedy AMERICAN ULTRA is basically ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ with yuks. Jesse Eisenberg is a sleeper CIA agent working as a burn-out convenience store clerk. Only, the program that created him was shut down, and when a former agent of the group comes to eliminate him, he’s give a code phrase which re-awakens his training. A nifty cast includes Walton Goggins, Connie Britton, John Leguizamo and Kristen Stewart.

► The highlight of INSIDE AMY SCHUMER’s great third season has to be ‘Last Fuckable Day,’ in which Amy stumbles upon Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Patricia Arquette in the woods as they celebrate Louis-Dreyfuss’ last day as a Hollywood hottie. Among the many bang-on observations: Sally Field played Tom Hanks’ love interest in 1988’s ‘Punchline,’ then played his mom just six years later in ‘Forrest Gump.’ Also this season: Amy breast feeds her dog, gets judged by a jury of 12 men whether she’s hot enough for TV, and gives an entire town the clap.

► Still one of the greatest rock documentaries ever, DONT LOOK BACK (screw you auto correct, the director removed the apostrophe) captures Bob Dylan at his arrogant, brilliant, assholish best while touring England in 1965. As expected, Criterion loads up on the extras, including commentary from director D.D. Pennebaker, outtakes, a chat with Patti Smith about the film’s influence, and an alternate take of the film’s legendary opening of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues.’ To go with a new 4K digital transfer is newly restored monaural sound. In other words, Dylan fans, you’re buying this again. Give the anarchist another cigarette.

► Owen Wilson wipes that smirk off his face in the thriller NO ESCAPE, playing an American engineer trapped with his family in a Southeast Asia country during a political uprising. With rebel scum running wild, and all transportation out of the country grounded, they make a dash for the border on a boat. It doesn’t help that the rebels want to kill Americans who work for the companies that control the water supply. Southeast Asians weren’t exactly thrilled with their depiction here.

► A diluted adaptation of Peter Straub’s most popular book, 1981’s GHOST STORY gathered old Hollywood royalty as four seniors in a New England town realize the dead girl they were all linked to in their youth has returned for some payback. Notable only as the last movie for Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Melvyn Douglas. The subtle shades that made Straub’s book so eerie are nowhere to be found.

► South Korean action flick A HARD DAY was a Cannes favorite last year, tossing in big laughs to go with its intense story of a homicide detective who kills someone with his car while driving to his mother’s funeral. With internal affairs already on his ass, he chooses to hide the guy’s corpse in his mother’s coffin, not realizing someone saw the accident. Cue the blackmail. Big word of mouth carried this to decent box office.

Also out this week: