Capsule reviews of the this week’s video releases, on DVD and Blu-ray, including special features:
• “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip” (PG, 92 minutes, Fox): Fourth installment in the franchise about a man (Jason Lee) who is raising three chipmunks like sons. “Grown-ups may impatiently tap their feet and roll their eyes at the rote storytelling, but it’s not the worst way to spend an afternoon with the kids,” wrote The Washington Post’s Caitlin Moore. Contains mild scatological humor and some rude language. Extras include “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Story So Far,” “Ultimate Playlist” of Chipmunks top hits from all three movies (including a Music Machine of 11 songs, three music videos and five lyric videos). Blu-ray adds “WETA and the Chipmunks: Animators’ Reference Reel,” “Munk Rock,” “RedFoo Squeaky Wiggle Dance Instructional,” “After the Party: A Munkumentary.”
• “The Big Short” (R, 130 minutes, Paramount): Adam McKay’s quirky portrait of the run-up to the 2008 financial collapse, adapted from Michael Lewis’s book of the same name. Won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Contains pervasive profanity and some nudity and sexuality. Blu-ray extras include “In the Trenches: Casting,” “The Big Leap: Adam McKay,” “Unlikely Heroes: The Characters of The Big Short,” “The House of Cards: The Rise of the Fall,” “Getting Real: Recreating an Era,” deleted scenes.
• “Brooklyn” (PG-13, 151 minutes, Fox): Saoirse Ronan stars in this adaptation of Colm T?ib?n’s novel about a young Irish woman immigrating to the United States in the early 1950s. Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture, Best Actress and Best Writing: Adapted Screenplay. Contains a scene of sexuality and brief strong language. Extras include six promotional featurettes: “The Story,” “Home,” “Love,” “Cast,” “The Making of Brooklyn” and “Book to Screen”; commentary by director John Crowley; photo gallery. Blu-ray adds 11 deleted and extended scenes.
