A sequel to Michael Jordan’s ‘90s Looney Tunes mashup starring LeBron James tops the DVD releases for the week of Oct. 5.
“Space Jam: A New Legacy”: The Tune Squad is back in action, this time led by a new No. 23 as King James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, takes center stage as a father whose teenage son would rather design video games than follow in his father’s footsteps on the hardcourt.
The sequel, which finds James and his son sucked into the Warner Bros. Serververse and features nods to much of the company’s intellectual property, “is just as manic as the first,” Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh writes in her review, “leaving one feeling as if they’ve been hit by a truck driven by Bugs Bunny, synapses fried by one of Wile E. Coyote’s sticks of dynamite.”
In updating the film after 25 years, Walsh asks “what is the lens through which we should view ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’? A nostalgic one? An ironic one? The filmmakers try to do both, while also trying to amuse new audiences, and the result is a strange brew, a frenetic piece of filmmaking that is incredibly meta, but deeply lacking in self-awareness.”
Also new on DVD Oct. 5
“Escape Room: Tournament of Champions”: Taylor Russell returns as Zoey, who again finds herself an unwilling participant in a deadly escape room contest, this time a tournament of champions.
“Six Minutes to Midnight”: Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench star in this espionage drama set at an English boarding school just before the outbreak of World War II.
“Broken Diamonds”: Ben Platt, star of “Dear Evan Hansen,” is a young writer getting ready to move to Paris when his father’s death means he becomes the caretaker of his mentally ill sister.
“Clarice: Season One”: CBS drama that debuted earlier this year follows FBI agent Clarice Starling as she returns to the field a year after the events of “Silence of the Lambs.”
“Fried Barry”: Horror comedy about Barry, a drug addict abducted by aliens who then assume control of his body and take it on a debauched journey through Cape Town, South Africa.
“The Nevers: Season 1 Part 1”: The first six episodes of HBO’s steampunk sci-fi drama set in Victorian England in which a group of people, mostly women, suddenly gain a range of supernatural powers.
“The Stand”: Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic tale gets a new treatment in this Paramount+ limited series starring Whoopi Goldberg and James Marsden.
“Audrey Hepburn 7-Movie Collection” (Blu-ray): Celebrating the 60th anniversary of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” originally released on Oct. 5, 1961, this set also includes “My Fair Lady,” “Funny Face,” “Sabrina,” “Roman Holiday,” “Paris When It Sizzles” and “War and Peace.”
