Overloaded Pirates sequel founders

Captain Jack (centre, Johnny Depp), Angelica (Penelope Cruz), Blackbeard (Ian McShane) face off in the latest Pirates film.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

2.5.5 stars

Johnny Depp doesn’t always ride the edge of believability with conviction, and in the part of Captain Jack Sparrow, the man with limited thespian dimensions surrenders to cornball matinee cliché. It’s a sweet act of Hollywood homage, in a way, but there is a finite number of goofy reaction shots that any single movie demands, and Depp outdoes that number every time. This time around, he goes toe to toe with Penelope Cruz as another swashbuckler who has assumed Jack’s identity in the hopes of helping out her nasty Papa. The whole thing is so big, and so awkward, the action can’t possibly keep up with the desired scale, but the players push so hard, we’re all exhausted by the end. Special features on this release depend on which edition you choose to take home. The standard two-disc version includes three special features, including director commentary, as well as a Lego short. The five-disc special edition with 3-D capacity includes all of the above, plus 75 minutes of stand-alone documentary content and behind-the-scenes footage. Also included are deleted scenes, bloopers and more.

Larry Crowne:

3/5 stars

Heavy sigh: It’s time to lower expectations. The new mantra for these disappointing times is written all over Larry Crowne, an A-list offering starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as a romantic maybe. Yep. That was a maybe, because even true love seems like a bother, if not an all-out lie, in this era of emotional and spiritual ambivalence. Sound a little depressing? It is, but only to those who find the celebration of underachievers a tad frustrating, because the central ambition in Larry Crowne is to make all that is average look inspiring and heroic.

The gearing-down of the American Dream starts in the opening frames, as we watch Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) prove himself one of the most dedicated big-box store employees under the sun. Yet, just moments into this movie directed by Hanks and co-written by Hanks and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), we watch Larry’s ordinary life fall to pieces. An altogether predictable and underwhelming effort that makes modern romance look like an afterthought for the dejected and cynical, only Julia Roberts seems to nail the overall ambivalence of hooking up in the 21st century. Special features include deleted scenes, fun on set, and the making of Larry Crowne.

Beginners:

4/5 stars

Mike Mills directs Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer as father and son in one of the most beautifully rendered and emotionally poignant films of the year. Inspired by Mills’ own life, the film explores the emotional impact of a sudden shift in identity. Hal (Plummer) lived his whole life as a straight family man, but shortly after his wife passes away, he comes out of the closet to embrace his homosexual truth for the first time. His son Oliver (McGregor) struggles to understand, but as this collection of tender moments eventually proves, love transcends fear every time. Subtle and beautiful, Beginners is altogether haunting and should herald hardware for Plummer come awards season. Special features include deleted scenes and featurettes on the Blu-ray edition.

The Lion King:

3/4 stars

We do not see pen and ink animation any more on the big screen. The very idea of drawing a line by hand, with an analog tool such as a pencil instead of a virtual instrument, is so outdated, it’s almost quaint. One could easily get nostalgic about it all. We could whimper about the loss of the so-called human touch, and the inimitable accessibility of a film with minute flaws and a hint of jiggle, because it’s a more accurate reflection of what we are. These human truths are becoming harder to find in the digital era, where computers can auto-correct, but often, in all the wrong ways. The Lion King is the last remnant of the era where mainstream animation truly reflected our human nature, and we didn’t expect perfection. Of course, that was also the point of the whole film, as a young lion cub is forced to accept his own imperfections and limitations. Matthew Broderick’s performance as Simba the lion cub, coupled with James Earl Jones as the ruling alpha who is usurped by his weaker, conniving brother, are the stuff classics are made of — making Lion King the last of the animated greats. Special features on this new DVD are similar to the recent Blu-ray release and include several featurettes on the making of the movie, including a special Bamlet (Hamlet meets Bambi) takeout on the animators, as well as original theatrical cut, restored digital version, commentary from the director and animator and more.

My Fair Lady, Blu-ray:

4/5 stars

For a while there, it looked like this beloved release about Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins was doomed to stay on DVD. Blu-ray rights were oddly in the air, but now they have landed — like the rain in Spain — on high-def with a decent helping of special features to boot. Not only do you get a song actually sung by Audrey Hepburn (instead of her vocal double, Marni Nixon), you also get rare archival footage, audio commentary, interview, and trailers. These new bells and whistles hardly update the release, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, but they do bring it back into clear focus, where we can see the lines of age and outdated ideas about women fracture all the way through the condescending narrative about the sexes.