Capsule reviews of the this week’s video releases, on DVD and Blu-ray, including special features:
• “Million Dollar Arm” (PG, 124 minutes, Disney): Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) plays a Los Angeles sports agent who has recently started his own firm but faces imminent shuttering if he doesn’t snag a major client. While channel surfing one night, he hits upon his golden ticket: Search India for a cricket bowler with enough speed, accuracy and power to become a major league baseball pitcher. In a movie culture increasingly dominated by niche audiences, there’s a special place of honor reserved for that rare film that can appeal to just about everyone. This easygoing and unpretentiously entertaining baseball drama is just that kind of film, one that tells a terrific story by way of an appealing cast, handsome production values and a warm, unaffected tone. Contains mild profanity and some suggestive content. Extras include a making-of-featurette. Also, on Blu-ray: alternate ending, deleted scenes, outtakes, “Their Story” featurette and a look at the musical score by Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman.
• “Edge of Tomorrow” (PG-13, 113 minutes, Warner): Summer blockbusters have gotten too big, too loud, too dependent on slick computer effects and too dismissive of narrative and character arc. Then something like “Edge of Tomorrow” comes along. A crafty, clever, stylish science-fiction action adventure, this time-travel loop-de-loop didn’t have to be this good. Thanks to the efforts of a superb creative team and Tom Cruise — here deploying his own persona with stunning self-awareness and humor — what might have been a throwaway genre exercise instead turns out to be a surprisingly satisfying day-after-day-after-day at the movies. Brilliantly adapted by brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth and Christopher McQuarrie, the film pops with moments of welcome, unexpected levity. Contains intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material. Extras include “Weapons of the Future” and “Creatures Not of This World” featurettes. Also, on Blu-ray: deleted scenes, featurettes “Operation Downfall — Adrenaline Cut” and “Storming the Beach,” and a making-of short with director Doug Liman.
• “Obvious Child” (R, 85 minutes, Lionsgate): This provocative romantic comedy from new writer-director Gillian Robespierre opens with Donna Stern doing one of her bits, giddily sharing the most intimate secrets of her day-old lingerie like a cross between sweet-faced, foul-mouthed Amy Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld. Donna is played by “Saturday Night Live” alum Jenny Slate, who possesses the same good-girl cuteness of Schumer and Sarah Silverman, and the same shocking subversive streak. The easily offended should be forewarned that Robespierre, like many of her contemporaries, clearly sees profanity as a legitimate arrow in the quiver of liberation, a mode of bracing, confrontational candor that instantly disarms fusty structures of sexism and other depredations. Yet “Obvious Child” is also one of the most startlingly honest romantic comedies to appear onscreen in years. Contains profanity and sexual content. Extras include commentary with Robespierre, Slate and producer/co-writer Elisabeth Holm; a making-of featurette; extended scenes; and the 23-minute “Obvious Child” short made in 2009.
