<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

New on DVD: Latest ‘Barbershop’ balances fun, gravity

By Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee
Published: July 29, 2016, 6:00am

New DVD releases out this week range from tales of the barbershop to a guy who cuts it very close.

• “Barbershop: The Next Cut” HHH: Workers at the shop arrange a weekend cease-fire among local gangs. The script by Tracy Oliver and Kenya Barris is a strong balance of seriousness and funny, and accented by comedians who love to improvise. Cedric the Entertainer continues to shine as the shop’s veteran employee, Eddie.

• “Criminal” H 1/2 : Kevin Costner ventures into “Silence of the Lambs” territory playing Jericho Stewart, a criminal with no moral compass. His violent ways are the aftermath of a childhood injury that affected the part of his brain that understands right from wrong. Costner’s portrayal of both the psychopath and the pseudo-psychopath is the most interesting thing in the movie.

• “The Boss” 1/2 : A business leader (Melissa McCarthy) is not greeted with open arms after a stint in prison. This film is about as funny as getting fired on your birthday. Not only is this movie devoid of any humor, it promotes both the forced labor and physical abuse of children. Try laughing at that.

• “Hardcore Henry” HH: This is a movie that is so much like a first-person shooter video game that a joystick should come with every DVD. The entire movie was shot using a GoPro camera fastened in front of the face of the actor. That means every scene is from the hero’s point of view, whether it be a gun battle in the streets, a fight with a tank in the woods, a bloody conflict in a brothel or one of the other countless excessive scenes of death and destruction.

The film is to action movies as “The Blair Witch Project” is to the horror genre. Both depend entirely on the gimmicky way the production has been put together and banks on no one noticing that there’s less plot than in a one-panel comic strip.

Also new on DVD

• “Sing Street”: A boy starts a band to impress a girl.

• “The Invitation”: Divorcees’ past haunts the present.

• “Soledad”: A driver makes an unlikely friendship with a high school girl.

• “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf”: No one will believe this story of a werewolf attack.

• “NOVA: Operation Lighthouse Rescue”: Efforts are made to save a historic lighthouse.

• “Jack Irish: Season 1”: Guy Pearce stars in this conspiracy thriller.

• “Opry Video Classics”: Includes performances by Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings.

• “I Am Wrath”: A man starts his own investigation into the death of his wife. John Travolta stars.

• “Nature: Nature’s Perfect Partners”: A look at how animals form alliances.

• “Hellhole”: A woman sent to sanitarium is terrorized.

• “River”: A journey from the shores of the Mekong River to the mountains in the north.

• “Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise”: This documentary about the man who created reggae and dub music was filmed over 15 years.

• “The Last Diamond”: Planned robbery goes bad when the thief falls for the target.

Loading...