Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

HOME MOVIES

- KAREN MARTIN

Adrift, directed by Baltasar Kormakur (PG-13, 1 hour, 36 minutes) Summer survival drama, anyone? Here’s one with plenty of thrills plus a powerful, determined and inspiring female character.

Sailors Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), embarking across the ocean from Tahiti to San Diego, head directly into one of the most catastroph­ic hurricanes in recorded history, leaving them with a ruined boat and a battle to stay alive. Based on a true story,

the film — all about the power of love and the strength of the human spirit — also stars Elizabeth Hawthorne, Grace Palmer, Jeffrey Thomas.

Blu-ray bonus features include deleted scenes, an interview with the cast and filmmakers, a behind-thescenes look at filming in open waters, commentary with the director and Shailene Woodley, and two trailers.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (PG-13, 1 hour, 34 minutes) A charming documentar­y that zooms in on arguably the most popular and beloved children’s show hosts ever, who took on the real world in language and an attitude that kids — and their parents — could understand. With Fred Rogers, Joanne Rogers, Yo-Yo Ma; directed by Morgan Neville.

Ghost Stories (not rated, 1 hour, 38 minutes) Careering between first-rate scares and flat-out stretches of dark comedy, this entertaini­ng chiller concerns scientist who denies the existence of ghosts until he stumbles across a stash of informatio­n about three frightenin­g hauntings that challenge his long-held beliefs. With Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Nicholas Burns; directed by Jeremy Dyson and Nyman.

Beast (R, 1 hour, 47 minutes) Don’t get too confident that you can figure out what’s going to happen next in this skillfully unpredicta­ble and twitchy tale of a 27-year-old woman who is caught between the pressures of life in the home of her abusive family in a small island community and the exciting temptation of a mysterious, free-spirited stranger who, like so many attractive anti-heroes, has a dark side: He’s a suspect in a series of violent murders. With Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Shannon Tarbet; directed by Michael Pearce.

Hereditary (R, 2 hours, 7 minutes) Fans of haunted-house thrillers will delight in this scare-fest in which the matriarch of the Graham family dies and her daughter’s family begins to unravel increasing­ly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun a sinister fate they seem to have inherited. With Toni Collette (delivering a superb performanc­e), Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne; directed by Ari Aster. Blu-ray bonuses include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a photo gallery.

Godard Mon Amour (R, 1 hour, 47 minutes) A stylish, acerbic comedy in the style of Woody Allen that shows no mercy to its self-absorbed lead character. It’s Paris in 1967, and prestigiou­s filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is shooting La Chinoise with his beloved Anne Wiazemsky, a process that provokes intense and unsettling self-examinatio­n and brings on an existentia­l crisis. With Louis Garrel, Stacy Martin, Berenice Bejo; directed by Michel Hazanavici­us (winner of 2012’s Best Director Oscar for The Artist). Subtitled.

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