A look at a hero abroad and a tale of corporate intrigue top new DVD releases for Oct. 1.
• “Spider-Man: Far from Home” HH 1/2 : After an agonizing opening that focuses on the return of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) post-The Blip, the film’s weak plot kicks in with a high school science trip to Europe. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers — the team behind the script for “Spider-Man: Homecoming” — can think of no better way to shift the story to Europe except for a plot idea that even one of the characters points out as nonsensical.
“Spider-Man: Far from Home” lacks the maturity, deep emotions, staggering battle scenes and clever writing that has been shown in movies like “Avengers: Endgame” and “Captain Marvel.” But there is a place for movies like “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” especially with the very young and preteen moviegoers.
The film has just enough silliness — mostly generated by the comical teachers on the trip played by Martin Starr and JB Smoove — to entertain the demographic.
• “Driven” HHH: Director Nick Hamm uses the DeLorean to go back to the past for a look at a world of greed, creative genius, con men, obsession and wealth. The DeLorean is his vehicle of choice, but it is Lee Pace’s performance as master car designer John DeLorean who puts the production in high gear.
Hamm’s version of the story suffers from a need to squeeze the events into a more compact package and offers a revisionist view of the major players, tending to make them look more like victims than royal manipulators. “Driven” is based in fact, but if you want to adhere completely to the truth, there are multiple documentaries on the subject.
What you get with “Driven” is a version of the DeLorean story that leans more toward the lavish and larcenous. But Pace’s first-rate work keeps pulling the focus back to the man at the heart of the tale.
Also on DVD
• “The Truth Will Out”: Swedish drama about a police detective who is commissioned to form a new team to reopen unsolved murder cases.
• “Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island!”: Scooby-Doo and his pals win an all-expense paid vacation to a tropical paradise that turns out to be Zombie Island.
• “Sesame Street: 50 Years and Counting”: The two-disc DVD set features more than 5 1/2 hours of content from all five decades of the show.
• “Itsy Bitsy”: Creepy-crawly creature feature based on the centuries-old poem.
• “The Toys that Made Us”: TV series that examines the history of top toys such as Barbie and Transformers.
• “Peanuts 70th Anniversary Holiday Collection Limited Edition”: Includes “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and six other Peanuts specials.
• “Mean Girls”: Film is being released on Blu-ray to mark the 15th anniversary.
• “Anna and the Apocalypse”: Zombie apocalypse threatens the town of Little Haven at Christmas.
• “Charmed”: The CW reimagining of supernatural drama about three sisters who are witches.
