New video: In ‘Gifted,’ Chris Evans as a different kind of hero
New on Blu-ray
“Gifted” (20th Century Fox DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.99; also available on VOD)
After making two poorly received Spider-Man movies, director Marc Webb gets back to his indie roots with “Gifted,” a domestic melodrama that hits its emotional beats just hard enough to get the job done. Chris Evans plays a working-class Floridian who has custody of his late sister’s 7-year-old daughter: a child genius whom he’s trying to keep “normal,” even as teachers and relatives push him to enroll her in special schools. A custody battle ensues, and while Webb and screenwriter Tom Flynn overplay their hero’s belief that ordinariness is superior to snootiness, Evans gives such a convincing performance that it’s hard not to be moved when he pleads for his vision of a good life. This is a small film that had a strong theatrical run and should find an even bigger audience on home video.
[Special features: Featurettes and deleted scenes]
VOD
“Person to Person” (available July 28)
Writer-director Dustin Guy Defa’s low-key comedy “Person to Person” turns five loosely interrelated New York City stories into a portrait of the everyday magic of modern urban life. A big-hearted music buff (well-played by Bene Coopersmith) chases after a lying record-dealer, on the same day that his stoic houseguest (George Sample III) suffers the consequences of posting a girlfriend’s naked pictures to the Internet. Meanwhile, a brainy high-schooler (Tavi Gevinson) reluctantly hangs out with her best friend’s boyfriend’s pal; and a novice journalist (Abbi Jacobson) tracks a possible murder with her metalhead editor (Michael Cera), and that leads them to the fix-it shop of a stubbornly ethical tinkerer (Philip Baker Hall). The pieces never quite come together, and the movie lacks the spark of similar shaggy mystery-comedies like TBS’s “Search Party,” but it’s amiable enough; and the 16mm cinematography has such a wonderfully grainy, richly saturated look that it’s a pleasure to watch.
TV set of the week
“Girls: The Final Season” (HBO DVD, $24.98; Blu-ray, $34.98)
Lena Dunham ended her oft-divisive HBO dramedy “Girls” this past spring with one of its best seasons, featuring 10 eclectic episodes that showed Dunham’s self-absorbed New York hipster Hannah Horvath and her friends coming to grips with what it means to be an adult. Between new jobs, fresh opportunities and fractured relationships, the “Girls” gang comes to a few long-overdue realizations about themselves in ways that remain true to the series’ nuanced take on human behavior.
[Special features: Extensive behind-the-scenes footage and featurettes]
From the archives
“Lost in America” (Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95)
Comedian-filmmaker Albert Brooks’ 1985 social satire “Lost in America” is his signature work. He and Julie Hagerty play a married pair of L.A. yuppies who quit their jobs, buy an RV and plan to spend the rest of their lives exploring the country. When nothing goes right, the heroes discover that hitting the road and “finding yourself” is less romantic than they had imagined in their hippie years. Brooks stacks up one classic comic set-piece after another, in what becomes a commentary on the stubborn arrogance of one overambitious man.
[Special features: New interviews with Brooks and his collaborators]
Three more to see
“The Boss Baby” (DreamWorks DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $36.99; 3D, $44.99; also available on VOD); “Ghost in the Shell” (2017, Paramount DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99; 3D, $48.99; also available on VOD); “Unforgettable” (Warner Bros. DVD, $25.99; Blu-ray, $26.99; 4K, $24.99; also available on VOD)
Only good movies
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