Tag Archives: DVD reviews

Provocative Young Filmmakers For Your Queue

One of the year’s most impressive directorial debuts is available for home viewing today. Justin Simien makes the leap from shorts to features with one of the smartest films of the year. Dear White People tackles racial issues with confidence and a mix of sarcasm, outrage, hilarity and disgust. Simien never abandons comedy for preaching, but there is not an issue he isn’t willing to spotlight, however uncomfortable. It’s an insightful, biting comedy too few people saw this year. Witty, incisive and one step ahead of you, this excellent indie comedy needs to make everyone’s home entertainment watch list.

There hasn’t been as funny, insightful and thoughtful a look at perceptions of race since Spike Lee’s groundbreaking 1989 Do the Right Thing. As Mookie makes his pizza deliveries on the hottest day of the summer, his alter-ego Lee unveils racism and other ugliness that bubbles up on days like this. It’s worth a revisit.

Two Valentine Romances for Your Queue

The controversial love story Blue is the Warmest Color releases to DVD today. Whatever your reservations or curiosity, the film is worth the attention it’s received by virtue of Adele Exarchopoulos’s powerhouse performance, as well as the expertly crafted, gorgeously filmed tale of the lilting heartache of first love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4bLY6PqW6A

 

Pair this with the underseen indie from 2011, Like Crazy. With another exceptional central performance from a new leading lady (Felicity Jones), the film swoons through the dizzying story of young and impetuous, not to mention impatient, love. It’s also worth noting an early and different role for Jennifer Lawrence as the fall-back girlfriend, the easy Plan B. How’s that for playing against type?