Jackman shreds screen in The Wolverine
X-Men instalment sidesteps cliché, delivers punch
The Wolverine ★★★ 1/2 Transcending the potholes of cologne commercials and the irritation of over-groomed masculinity, director James Mangold finds just the right manly notes for this action movie that leverages the XMen collateral and gives it a new, adamantium-forged edge sizzling with romance. Picking up the story of Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) after he killed his true love, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), this 3D action spectacle takes us to Japan, where an eccentric billionaire offers Logan the gift of mortality: He could finally realize his dream of dying alongside his true love, but the wacky billionaire seems to have a shady agenda. Besides, superheroes don’t commit suicide. Mangold (Cop Land) revels in the emotional landscape where Jackman can shred the scenery while the rest of us watch in awe, making for a rather meaty cinema stew. Special features include documentary, alternative ending, second screen, set tour, digital copy and more. Good Ol’ Freda ★★★
She was just a lass of 17 when she took up residency in a storage closet outside Brian Epstein’s office and became secretary to The Beatles, which means a lot of Freda Kelly’s recollections feel a little naive and childish — and largely unimportant. So, as far as documentary subjects go, Kelly is far from ideal because she never questioned her role or her place. By the same token, she was in proximity to the biggest band that ever was, which means she has fly-onthe-wall observations about the Fab Four that few of us have ever heard. Dishing on the boys and all their bad habits as well as good deeds, Kelly provides a wonderful soundtrack to archival images and is sure to kindle fond memories for a large swath of the western world, but there’s nothing all that special here. Special features include digital transfer and more. Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams ★★ 1/2
It’s unpredictable, fiery and completely random. Creativity can reduce the bravest, most decorated left-brained soldier into a puddle of nervous mush. For singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, this seems to be a natural state —a lacy palace of romantic thoughts and swirling melodies that complements her actual abode, a sprawling mansion with a mega-rotunda in suburban Los Angeles. The house and Nicks’s ephemeral creative muse are essentially the two stars of In Your Dreams, a new documentary from multi-hyphenate producer Dave Stewart. Part video diary of the production process, and part artist portrait, In Your Dreams chronicles the conception, gestation and eventual birth of Nicks’s latest studio offering, which shares the same title as the movie. Special features unavailable. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane ★★★
Originally shelved for seven years after the original distributor went bankrupt, this horror effort from The Wackness and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine still holds up years later because it’s different from your average slasher reel. Amber Heard plays a good girl who gets involved with the cool kids, and ends up at the pothead’s family ranch the same weekend a psycho killer comes to town. All the genre ingredients are there and swirling through Levine’s stylized concoction, but thanks to Heard’s otherworldly presence and Levine’s intelligence, the movie feels surprisingly fresh as it slices through cliché and with an evil genius grin. Special features include commentary with Levine and more.