Director Guy Ritchie takes a refreshingly old-school approach to “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (2015, Warner, PG-13, $30), offering up an actioner powered less by digital trickery than by the chemistry between stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as rival spies Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin, respectively.
Ritchie gets a big assist from rising star Alicia Vikander, who’s irresistible as a mystery woman key to the agents’ attempts to save the world. So what if the film sags a bit in the middle: “Man From U.N.C.L.E,” which is based on the ’60s TV series, delivers nearly as much fun as a vintage James Bond flick with about half the sexism. Extras: featurettes.
Also New This WeekShaun The Sheep Movie: (2015, Lionsgate, PG, $30) Score another victory for Aardman, the British animation house who brought the lovable claymation figures Wallace and Gromit to life. This time around, it’s Shaun the sheep who takes center stage with a tale that begins with our plucky hero simply wanting to take a day off and concludes with an adventure in the Big City for the whole flock. There’s lots of funny business involving Shaun’s owner the Farmer developing amnesia and winding up a famous hair stylist as well as a hilarious running gag involving the sheep jumping over a fence repeatedly to put their human adversaries to sleep. It’s sheer pleasure. Extras: featurettes.
Jimmy’s Hall: (2015, Sony, PG-13, $30) Ken Loach’s latest looks at Ireland’s shabby treatment of one of its own citizens, James Gralton (Barry Ward), after he built a dance hall in rural Leitrim. The Catholic Church, as personified by a small-minded parish priest (Jim Norton), takes offence at Jimmy’s facility and the music being played there. Jimmy’s socialist politics also figure into the drama as does his touching romance with his one-time girlfriend (Simone Kirby). As with all of Loach’s films, there’s talky patches but the performances and the gorgeous cinematography keep you watching. Extras: deleted scenes, featurettes and commentaries.
We Are Your Friends: (2015, Warner, R, $28) Given that this Zac Efron vehicle is one of the lowest-grossing wide release movies of the year, you are forgiven for expecting a disaster. In fact, the coming-of-age yarn about an aspiring DJ living in the San Fernando Valley is a deeply-felt little drama that mostly succeeds at upending cliches. Even though Efron is taken under the wing of a famous mixmaster (Wes Bentley), he doesn’t go the rags-to-riches route but rather learns lessons in love, loyalty and the dangers of selling out. While not without its share of flaws, “We Are” has a good beat and you can dance to it. Extras: featurette.
Applesauce: (2015, MPI, unrated, $25) What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? That the question that a high-school English teacher (writer /director Onur Tukel) makes the mistake of answering in this dark comedy about secrets and lies. After Tukel confesses his sin, someone begins sending him severed body parts. Part revenge fantasy, part mystery and part relationship dramedy, “Applesauce” is wonderfully unpredictable. It keeps springing surprises from the first scene to the last. Extras: blooper reel, deleted scenes and commentary by Tukel.
Bound To Vengeance: (2015, Shout Factory, unrated, $23) After escaping from a basement hellhole where she’s been held captive by a psychopath (Richard Tyson), Eve (Tina Ivlev) decides to give the guy a taste of his own medicine. After shackling him, she forces him to lead her to the other young women he’s holding prisoner around town. Eve’s plight is so primal you’ll be drawn to her attempts to save her fellow captives. But why she doesn’t simply call 911 for assistance is never explained. That narrative flaw makes “Bound” hard to swallow. Extras: none.
Meru: (2015, Music Box, R, $30) A Sundance audience award winner, this mountain-climbing doc tracks the efforts of three alpinists to tackle a Himalayan peak which rises 21,000 feet above the Ganges River. On their first attempt, the men are forced to turn back, which amps up the drama for their second stab at the big wall. Extreme sports fans are the best audience for this adventure film, which boasts breath-taking cinematography but scant psychological insight into what would drive these men to risk life and limb to scale an “impossible” mountain. Extras: featurettes and commentaries.
Day For Night: (1973, Criterion, unrated, $30) Francois Truffaut’s wonderfully fluid ensemble film is both an irreverent celebration of moviemaking and a delightful comedy about the pitfalls of love, aging and one-night stands. Truffaut stars as an anxious director trying to mount a breezy melodrama. But he’s continually thwarted by a cast of unpredictable actors, including a fragile British beauty (a bewitching Jacqueline Bisset), a one-time lothario with a secret (Jean-Pierre Aumont), a boozy Italian diva (Valentina Cortese) and a neurotic bad boy (Jean-Pierre Leaud). Laugh-out-loud funny one minute and then unexpectedly poignant the next, “Day For Night” captures life in all its messy strangeness. Extras: featurettes.
Wabash Avenue: (1950, Fox Cinema Archives, unrated, $35) A remake of “Coney Island,” this sturdy Betty Grable vehicle finds our heroine strutting her stuff at a freewheeling Chicago dive. She’s being wooed by the club’s owner (Phil Harris) but her heart belongs to his oldest friend (Victor Mature), a gambler who convinces her she needs to hit the big time. Director Henry Koster oversells the boisterousness of Chicago’s South Side but once he allows the action to calm down, the film becomes a charming musical comedy enlivened by one nifty Grable number after another. Extras: two other films starring Grable.
Five Came Back: (1939, Warner Archive, unrated, $20) Here’s a B-movie, shot on the cheap and running only 75 minutes, which gets everything right. A precursor to “Airplane” and “Lost,” the thriller centers on a diverse cross-section of travelers (Lucille Ball, John Carradine, C. Aubrey Smith) who have crashed in the dense jungle wilderness. There’s tension and tenderness as the survivors bring out the best – and, occasionally, the worst – in each other. When tribal drums start beating in the background, signaling the advance of less-than-friendly natives, the suspense is kicked up a notch or two. “Five Came Back” flies high. Extras: none.
Bad Boys I &II – 20th Anniversary Collection: (1995-2003, Sony, R, $28) Bullets fly, cars crash and lots of stuff blows up in Michael Bay’s two action thrillers starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami police officers. Finally available on Blu-ray, “Bad Boys II” looks almost like a new movie in hi-def, as Smith and Martin pursue a crazy drug lord from Florida to Cuba. Even though Gabrielle Union brings plenty of pizzazz to the role of Lawrence’s sister who’s secretly dating Smith in the sequel, she doesn’t bring quite the same oddball energy that Teo Leoni brought to the original film. Extras: music videos, featurettes, deleted scenes and Bay commentary.
Impromptu: (1991, Olive, PG-13, $25) In the mood for an effervescent romp about social-climbing aristocrats and starving artists? James Lapine’s directorial debut, now on Blu-ray, fits the bill beautifully. Judy Davis stars as the writer George Sand who comes under the spell of composer Frederic Chopin (Hugh Grant) and will stop at nothing to ensnare his affections. During a particularly delightful sequence set at the country estate of an ambitious duchess (scene-stealing Emma Thompson), there’s secret assignations, thwarted passions and duels among Sand’s suitors. “Impromptu” is a sweet treat. Extras: none.
Two Men In Town: (1973, Cohen, unrated, $30) There’s a powerful scene near the end of this new-to-Blu-ray crime thriller in which the great Jean Gabin and Alain Delon exchange glances from opposite sides of prison bars. They don’t say a word yet they communicate volumes. The friendship between these two men is at the heart of Jose Giovanni’s superb drama about an ex-safe cracker (Delon) whose efforts to go straight are hampered by a vengeful police detective and members of his old gang. Little known outside of France, “Two Men” deserves a higher profile. Extras: commentary by Gabin biographer.
