Blackfish

dvd of the week For some reason, I have been unable to catch Blackfish, the much heralded documentary about the cruel and otherwise problematic treatment of the very complex, very smart killer whales at SeaWorld. The amusement park chain, which has its flagship location in San Diego, has complained about the film’s accuracy, but their…

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Man of Steel

dvd of the week Superman’s unfailing, idealistic, compassionate heroism has never existed in the real world, which is one of the most important reasons that he has been so attractive and so popular for so long. But in Zack Snyder’s massively hyped reboot of the storied franchise – which is written by David Goyer and…

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Heartbeats

dvd of the week It’s a tale as old as time: A young gay man and his best girlfriend fall in love with the same beautiful boy. This plot and its lesbian equivalent have been at the center of entirely too many bad independent films. So, you might expect that Heartbeats, a film about such…

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This Is the End

dvd of the week In this brilliantly funny satire, it’s Judgment Day, and among the few survivors are Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride. They’re holed up in Franco’s mansion, trying to escape the gruesome demons loose from hell, and talking shit. Since all of the actors are…

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Behind the Candelabra

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Behind the Candelabra dvd of the week Steven Soderbergh’s film about Liberace and his last lover, the young, blond and clueless Scott Thorson, was too gay and too sexy to be a feature film, supposedly. HBO, however, was thrilled to produce Behind the Candelabra, which stars Michael Douglas as…

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The Great Gatsby

dvd of the week This is the first adaptation of a F. Scott Fitzgerald work that seems to be as in love with Fitzgerald’s writing as Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) is with Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). When Nick Caraway (a most excellent Toby Maguire) isn’t narrating the Jazz Age tragedy with Fitzgerald’s own language, director…

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