Capsule reviews of the this week’s video releases, on DVD and Blu-ray, including special features:
• “Inherent Vice” (R, 148 minutes, Warner): Joaquin Phoenix is Doc Sportello, a private eye living in the seedy environs of fictional Gordita Beach, Calif., in 1970 in this kaleidoscopic yet languidly compelling whodunit based on the 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon. “Inherent Vice” roils and simmers with epochal shifts, spiritual cataclysms and eerily prescient observations of present-day realities, from long-brewing mistrust of the police to a burgeoning security state. But as a viewing experience, it’s a remarkably mellow, even soothing experience. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who has made a career of capturing Los Angeles from every angle, era and collective mood swing, “Inherent Vice” unfolds so organically and with such humanistic grace that even at its most preposterous, viewers will find themselves nodding along, sharing the buzz the filmmaker has so skillfully created. Anderson enlists the best faces in the business to give warmth, humor and pathos to characters whose antic contradictions and off-the-wall pronouncements are nearly always suffused with unspoken sorrow. Katherine Waterston delivers an impressive breakout performance as the willowy Shasta, whose pull on Doc is palpable. Josh Brolin steals every scene he’s in as the square-jawed, straight-arrow Lt. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen. And Benicio Del Toro makes the most of his small part as Doc’s attorney, keeping a straight face at every bent, bizarro turn. Contains pervasive drug use, sexual content, graphic nudity, profanity and some violence. Extras include featurettes “Los Paranoias,” “Shasta Fay,” The Golden Fang” and “Everything In This Dream.”
• “Paddington” (PG, 95 minutes, TWC-Dimension/Anchor Bay): Because of its adorable protagonist, laugh-out-loud gags and touching premise, this sweet little film about a cub who finds a family and home succeeds in a way most CGI/live-action hybrids do not. While the slapstick isn’t particularly original, director Paul King makes the silliness work. Based on a half-century of classic children’s books by Michael Bond, the movie is set in the present and keeps the focus in London, which is depicted as the ideal place for bears and other exiles. A marmalade-loving bear cub (voiced by Ben Whishaw) travels from “Darkest Peru” to England to find the explorer who long ago discovered the bear’s aunt and uncle. In addition to Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) and Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, the cast includes other comically adept actors such as Julie Walters (Harry Potter’s Molly Weasley), Peter Capaldi (the latest “Doctor Who”) and, most notably, Nicole Kidman as a greedy museum taxidermist who wants to “stuff” Paddington and put him on display. Contains mild action and rude humor. Extras include “Meet the Characters,” “When a Bear Comes to Stay” and “From Page to Screen” featurettes, and a “Shine” music video with Gwen Stefani and Pharrell. Also, on Blu-ray: “Shine” music video making-of featurette.
• “The Gambler” (R, 110 minutes, Paramount): This remake of the 1974 crime drama is a sleek but trivial account of a privileged jerk hellbent on self-destruction. Mark Wahlberg plays the title character, Jim Bennett, a generally unsavory guy in Los Angeles who grew up rich. Addicted to gambling, he’s in the hole for $240,000 to two dangerous men (played by Michael K. Williams and Alvin Ing) and he has a week to pay up. Subplots involving Bennett’s supposed literary genius and a relationship with a comely student (Brie Larson) are mostly shallow. Director Rupert Wyatt fares better in the look-and-feel department, and the soundtrack is full of gems, but it’s John Goodman who steals every scene. As a scary loan shark who might cough up cash to get Jim out of his pickle, Goodman elevates the material, showcasing the dark humor Wyatt was clearly going for. Contains strong language throughout and some sexuality.Blu-ray extras include a behind-the-scenes look, deleted/extended scenes, a featurette on updating the film, location and costume design shorts, and a “Dark Before Dawn: The Descent of The Gambler” featurette.
