Looking for ‘Band Aid’ to save love
A unique ode to musical healing, “Band Aid” (2017, Shout Factory, unrated, $18) centers on an Uber driver named Anna (Zoe ListerJones) and her artist husband Ben (Adam Pally) who decide to try to save their marriage by turning their fights into songs.
While the argument scenes buzz with energy, Lister-Jones, who wrote and directed, is at her best exploring how this disappointed couple is pulled apart by sadness.
“Band Aid” is a comedy – and a very funny one at that, thanks to the scene-stealing Fred Armisen – but it’s also a look at the ways that love can curdle into hate if you’re not careful. Extras: deleted scenes, outtakes and music video.
Also New to DVD
Megan Leavey (2017, Universal, PG-13, $28): Based on a true story, this gripping drama spins the saga of an Upstate New York woman (Kate Mara) who joins the Marines on a whim and discovers she has a rare talent for training bomb-sniffing dogs. But after she and her combat dog Rex are nearly killed in action in Iraq, she finds that retiring with Rex by her side will be no easy task. Part war movie, part ode to self-discovery and part activist drama, “Megan Leavey” tears down genre clichés and replaces them with something truer and more human. It’s a real winner. Extras: featurette. All Eyez On Me (2017, Lionsgate, R, $30): This mixed bag of a biopic about hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur stumbles badly by depicting a brutal sexual assault in such a manner as to clear Shakur (Demetrius Shipp, Jr.) of any responsibility. Still, director Benny Boom brings energy to the rise of the rapper, illustrating his rivalries and rapping sessions with skill. The highlight of the movie is the deep bond between Shakur and his mother (Danai Gurira), a smart, tough woman who was a sounding board for her son for most of his life. Extras: deleted scenes and featurettes. Sin Alas (2017, Kino, unrated, $30): One of the first American productions to be shot in Cuba in 50years, this drama, based on a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, pivots on an elderly Cuban writer (Carlos Padron) who begins to ruminate on his past after a former lover passes away. In just 80 beautifully paced minutes, writer/director Ben Chace manages to unreel the saga of the tragic romance while simultaneously showcasing a Havana of the late-1950s when revolution was in the air. The plot is a bit fuzzy but Chace smartly laces the action with questions that haunt and provoke. Extras: featurette. Maurice (1987, Cohen, R, $30): The latest in Cohen Media Group’s essential 4K restorations of Merchant/Ivory movies, “Maurice” is a sweeping gay romance that doubles as a powerful look at the pitfalls of living a closeted life. When Maurice (James Wilby) meets Cambridge classmate Clive (Hugh Grant) in the years before World War II, they fall in love quickly. But they hide their romance and Clive weds a Rebecca (1940, Criterion, unrated, $30): Alfred Hitchcock’s first American movie stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who is whisked away to a gothic mansion by her new aristocrat husband (Laurence Olivier.) The fairy tale darkens after Fontaine realizes that Olivier’s deceased first wife Rebecca still casts a long shadow over the estate and its inhabitants, particularly sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). The only one of Hitch’s movie to win the top prize at the Oscars, “Rebecca” showcases the filmmaker at his shivery best. Extras: featurettes.