New to On Demand & DVD

On Demand DVD New Releases March 3-9 This week, Bryan Cranston — of Breaking Bad/Malcolm in the Middle fame — makes a big-screen appearance in Cold Comes the Night and Jennifer Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen in the second Hunger Games installment The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Spike Lee, John Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen team up for Oldboy, while a number of big-name celebs join forces for the documentary Girl Rising. Cold Comes the Night A struggling motel owner and her daughter are taken hostage by a nearly blind career criminal to be his eyes as he attempts to retrieve his cash […]

On Demand DVD New Releases Feb. 24-March 2: February comes to a close with some big titles rounding out the month’s releases. Channel Guide Magazine‘s movie critic, Paul Hall offers his take on his favorites. The Counselor Novelist Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) wrote the screenplay for this oddball crime story about a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) whose ill-conceived foray into drug trafficking soon has his life spiraling out of control. Directed by Ridley Scott. Also stars Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt (R, 1:57) 2/25 Gravity Paul says: “Quite frankly, this is the best and most complete film of 2013. When viewing at […]

On Demand DVD New Releases Feb. 17-23 Not a single big title this week … even Channel Guide Magazine‘s movie critic Paul Hall didn’t have anything to add to this week’s rundown. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things worth checking out. See below for some titles you might otherwise have overlooked. Baggage Claim A flight attendant, who is determined to get engaged before her youngest sister’s wedding, uses her airline connections to conduct a 30-day search hunting down ex-boyfriends and searching for other potential suitors. Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Taye Diggs (PG-13, 1:36) 2/18 McCanick A harried narcotics detective and his reluctant […]

One of the scenes in The Best Man Holiday that’s sure to be talked about (and enjoyed) is when the male cast members entertain their female counterparts with a performance of New Edition’s “Can You Stand the Rain.” Director Malcolm D. Lee sets up the scene, which has its roots in his own lip-synching days at Georgetown. “After dinner, Mia (played by Monica Calhoun), tells the guys that they are not going to have dessert until they do ‘air band.’ This catches them by surprise. She has the jackets, hats and outfits they had circa 1991, and they’re going to […]

In September 1992, Ron Woodroof succumbed to complications from AIDS. Six years earlier, he had been given 30 days to live. Screenwriter Craig Borten was drawn to Woodroof’s story, and that of the Dallas Buyers Club, after being pointed towards it by a friend. Woodroof set up the Dallas Buyers Club to provide AIDS patients with experimental drugs for treating the disease that could only be obtained through importation from other countries or via illegal smuggling, as they had not yet been approved for use in the United States. Woodroof, a proud Texan, was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, as […]

On Demand DVD New Releases Feb. 10-16 See what Paul Hall, Channel Guide‘s movie critic has to say about some of this week’s new titles. All Is Lost Paul says: “Robert Redford is back on the big screen as a man who is lost in the Indian Ocean. An accident has left him stranded, and his knowledge of his boat and his surroundings, and his internal drive, will hopefully help him survive until someone finds him. Dialogue is not a part of this film as it’s all about Redford — he’s the only person who appears in the film — and […]

At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina) discovers he can travel in time. Tim’s father (Bill Nighy, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can’t change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life. The idea for About Time came from a conversation that director Richard Curtis (Pirate Radio, Love Actually) had with a friend about what they would do if they were told that they had only 24 hours left to live. […]

On Demand DVD New Releases For Feb. 3-9 If the weather has you stuck inside, why not check out one of these titles? Once again, we welcome Channel Guide movie critic Paul Hall, who offers some thoughts on a few of this week’s new releases. A Case of You A young writer tries to impress a girl he meets online with an embellished profile, but he finds himself in a real mess when she falls for him and he has to keep up the act. Peter Dinklage, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood (R, 1:29) 2/3 About Time When he reaches age 21, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he […]

In Rush, Daniel Brühl plays Niki Lauda, an Austrian Formula One racecar driver who was severely injured in a 1976 crash at the Nürburgring during the German Grand Prix. The film focuses on the story of the rivalry between Lauda and another driver, English playboy James Hunt. Hunt is portrayed in the film by Chris Hemsworth. The portrayal of Lauda’s post-Nürburgring disfigurement required much time in makeup with Academy Award-winning prosthetic makeup designer Mark Coulier. “Of course, we needed prosthetics and that made me nervous at first,” Brühl says. “The funny thing was that after the first test, Mark’s assistants […]

On Demand DVD New Releases Jan. 27-Feb. 3 New this week: Channel Guide movie critic Paul Hall weighs in with his thoughts on some of this week’s top releases! Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2 In this tasty animated sequel, inventor Flint Lockwood must again save civilization from culinary-inspired disaster, this time in the form of “foodimals” — half-food, half-animals. Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris (PG, 1:35) 1/28 Paul says: Fun and funny — if you liked the first film, this is more of the same.  Enough Said  Eva’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) romance with Albert (James Gandolfini, in one […]