This Week’s DVD/Blu-ray New Releases Will Make You Want to “Sing”

There’s a song in our hearts whenever it comes time to check out this week’s new DVD and Blu-ray new releases, and it is one that will be soaring through the air with the home video arrival of Sing. That charming computer-animated tale of overcoming obstacles to pursue your dreams leads off the new offerings. Let’s learn about that and what other pitch perfect offerings are now available, shall we?

Sing

As his family-owned theater is threatened with shutdown, struggling impresario (and koala) Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) goes for broke with a singing competition open to the city’s entire animal populace. Those answering the call–and perhaps realizing their show-business dreams–include harried mom pig Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), punk-rocker porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson), and gorilla thug’s son Johnny (Taron Egerton). Sprightly, pop favorite-filled animated hit also features the voices of Seth MacFarlane, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, and Nick Kroll.

Assassin’s Creed

Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day. With Marion Cotillard.

Live By Night

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, this 1920s-set crime drama focuses on Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck, who also wrote and directed), a petty crook who runs afoul of Irish Boston gang boss Albert White (Robert Glenister). Going to work for White’s enemy–Italian Mafia head Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone)–Coughlin travels to Florida where he begins to establish a rum-running operation and soon finds himself tangling with the local sheriff (Chris Cooper) and the Ku Klux Klan. With Elle Fanning, Zoe Saldana, Brendan Gleeson.

A Kind of Murder

In 1960s Manhattan, architect/amateur detective Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) found a few outlets from life with his shrewish, neurotic spouse Clara (Jessica Biel). One was freelance dabbling in the recent case of a suspected wife murderer (Eddie Marsan)–and the other was a dalliance with a gorgeous nightclub singer (Haley Bennett). However, when Clara turns up dead–and the investigating cop (Vincent Kartheiser) puts the wrong pieces together–Walter’s side pursuits may have ruinous consequences, in this intriguing adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Blunderer.”

Miss Sloane

In Washington, D.C.’s halls of power, you won’t find a cooler or more calculating hired gun than business lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain). Unexpectedly, she walked away her firm over the anti-gun control legislation it was hired to push through–and when she offered her services to the bill’s opposition, they weren’t prepared for her brand of hardball. Searing political thriller co-stars Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow; John Madden directs.

Julieta

While prepping for a move away from Madrid, middle-aged Julieta (Emma Suárez) has a chance encounter with a friend of the daughter to whom she’s been estranged for a decade. As she desperately tries to affect a reconciliation, she reflects upon her days as a young woman (Adriana Ugarte) with her husband (Daniel Grao) and child, and the sad circumstances that would cost her both. Pedro Almodóvar’s absorbing effort, inspired by a trio of Alice Munro short stories, co-stars Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner, Rossy de Palma.

In Dubious Battle

In 1933, young labor activist Jim Nolan (Nat Wolff) and his shrewd mentor Mac McLeod (James Franco, who directed) headed to California, looking to blend in with the local apple pickers and then foment a strike over the two-thirds cut in their promised wages. Unfortunately, the landowners are more than willing to give them the fight that they’re looking for. Atmospheric adaptation of the first and least-known leg of Steinbeck’s “Dust Bowl Trilogy” also stars Robert Duvall, Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Josh Hutcherson, Bryan Cranston, and Ed Harris.

Fire At Sea

Italy’s southernmost isle in the Mediterranean Sea, Lampedusa is eight square miles large, has a populace of roughly 400,000…and, over the last generation, has become the entry point for thousands of migrants fleeing Africa and the Middle East for Europe. The critical humanitarian issues posed by this influx of the suffering, and the real tensions between locals and refugees, are brought into unforgettable focus in this remarkable effort.