New on DVD & Blu-Ray: 'Dallas Buyers Club', 'Escape Plan', 'About Time'

Dallas Buyers Club - Ron Woodroff lives life on the edge. He's a heavy smoker, drinker, drug user, and casual sex junkie. When he ends up in the hospital and the doctors discover he is HIV positive, they give him 30 days to live. Stubborn, angry, and in denial, Ron sets off to try to get the drug AZT, which is only being trialed in the U.S. and isn't given to paying customers. He acquires it in other ways and sets up a place where other people suffering from HIV can get it too. The film gives us Oscar-nominated performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto and also stars Jennifer Garner.  

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Escape Plan - Sylvester Stallone stars as a security escape artist who's able to get out of any prison, no matter how sophisticated their security system is. When Stallone is set up and is sent to a maximum security prison he can't escape as easily as usual, he teams up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, an inmate at the prison, to make plans and escape what seems to be the inescapable. Also starring Sam Neill, Faran Tahir, 50 Cent, Jim Caviezel, and Amy Ryan. 

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About Time - When Tim is 21, his father lets him in on a little family secret: the men of the family can travel through time. Of course, you need to be in a dark place with your fists clench, but it does work. So Tim sets off in search of a girlfriend and ends up meeting Mary and tries to make everything perfect in their relationship by going back and trying to change the past. Eventually Tim learns that you can't change some things, but can enjoy what you have. A heart warming film filled with fun moments. Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Nighy.

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Free Birds - In this animated comedy, two turkey enemies team up in order to go back in time and make sure that Thanksgiving is never again called Turkey Day. In order to spare themselves, the two turkeys must learn to work together if they have any hopes of saving themselves and all the turkeys of the world. The voice cast includes Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler, George Takei, and Keith David.

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Baggage Claim - Montana Moore's youngest sister is getting married. Desperate and not wanting to be the oldest and the only woman in her family to never get married, Montana embarks on a 30-day adventure to find a man and get engaged. She uses her airline connections to travel 30,000 miles in order to find someone before her sister's wedding. The film stars Paula Patton, Tia Mowry, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, and Adam Brody.

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Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare would probably be proud to know that his tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet has transcended time and is still one of his most popular works. So popular, that it has garnered another movie about the two star-crossed lovers. This time around, the roles have been filled in by Hailee Steinfield, Douglas Booth, Christian Cooke, and Ed Westwick.

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Cutie and the Boxer - Ushio and Noriko Shinohara are both artists who came from Japan to New York City in the '70s. This documentary by Zachary Heinzerling follows the couple in present day as they struggle to bring in money from their artwork and gives us the background to their tumultuous 40-year relationship. The documentary has been nominated for an Academy Award. 

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DVD Review: 'Cutie and the Boxer', Starring Ushio and Noriko Shinohara

There's a reason struggling artists are given their name. Being an artist is unfortunately not a stable job, so requires a lot of patience and a lot of passion. And while the patience isn't always there for artist couple Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, the passion for their individual work is alight. Writer and director Zachary Heinzerling gives a glimpse into the world of longtime artists, one who's nearing the end of his career, and another who's just beginning to receive recognition for hers. 

The film opens with the celebration of Ushio's 80th birthday. Ushio Shinohara is a popular artist who is famous for imitating American pop art back in '60s Japan and came to the United States in the early '70s. He was slightly deterred because his success didn't transfer over to New York City. People liked his work, but it wasn't their taste. Still, Ushio enjoyed success and had his own art store, his sculptures and boxing paintings (for which he's most famous for, in which he uses boxing gloves to make his creations) displayed in several art galleries. 

Heinzerling depicts a relationship on the rocks, Ushio often seen undermining Noriko and her work because his fame is dwindling and hers is rising. Through Noriko's eyes, and her art titled "Cutie and Bullie," we get a brief animated tale of her life: coming to New York City at 19, meeting Ushio, trying to find time to paint, and her loss of ambition amongst her changing lifestyle, raising their son, and Ushio's alcoholism. 

Cutie and the Boxer is a film that seems at first glance like it's showcasing Ushio and Noriko's tumultuous 40-year relationship. But, thinking on it, the film also studies age and perceptions, both inside and outside the relationship. It looks at the rise and fall of Ushio's career and how Noriko's success doesn't make him particularly happy because he was always the more popular one. There's also the traditional values of a wife's place that Ushio holds onto. 

It looks at how two people can be similar in passions, but completely opposite in approach and how their struggling relationship has impacted them, mostly focusing on Noriko. The choice of art as a career and the consequences of that choice. All these things are underlying themes in the film, but are tainted by Heinzerling's slow-moving storytelling and occasional lack of focus. 

Heinzerling paints Noriko in a better light than he does Ushio, but it's not necessarily a negative thing in this case because everything is presented as very factual and Heinzerling isn't taking sides, just presenting his audience with the truth. The style of the film can be a little frustrating, given the back and forth between the couple's daily lives and their past. In fact, the animated portion of the film is the strongest, most unique, and most interesting part of the entire documentary and it's a shame that it couldn't all be told in that style. 

Heinzerling chooses to focus on the couple and their art, but it unfolds too slowly and at times it feels like the film has a lack of focus, altering between showing us their art creations and their rocky relationship without a balance. Ultimately, there isn't enough driving force behind Heinzerling's film for it to impact or completely captivate an audience, no matter how intriguing the subjects may be. 

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