Heroes and hotties are the theme of this week’s home entertainment releases.
From Marvel’s best coming together in Avengers: Age of Ultron (above) to Channing Tatum returning (without much clothing) to his stripper franchise Magic Mike XXL to a French magistrate’s attempt to stop a 1970s Marseilles drug smuggling operation in The Connection to brave Puerto Rican drag queens prepping for a Chicago pageant in I Am The Queen.
Scroll for the details and let us know what you think of these picks — and anything else you love this week!
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Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
($44.99 Blu-ray, $28.99 DVD; Warner)
Channing Tatum’s retired stripper, Mike Lane, is lured back into the world of erotic showmanship for “one more gig” at a convention. While Matthew McConaughey doesn’t reprise his role in this one, nor are there any openly gay leading characters (come on, boys!!!), Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Donald Glover and Jada Pinkett Smith are part of the road movie-style fun. Extras include an extended dance scene and featurettes.
($29.93 Blu-ray, $24.99 DVD; Drafthouse Films)
Another take on the same events that inspired William Friedkin’s 1970s classic thriller about New York cops assigned to a French drug-running operation, The French Connection, this brand new yet totally 70s-styled feature follows French magistrate Pierre Michel (Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin) as he attempts to shut down a massive Marseilles-USA drug smuggling operation and its clever, slippery kingpin. Sounds like a double feature night to us! Extras include a making-of featurette and deleted scenes.
($39.98 3D Blu-ray, $32.99 Blu-ray, $29.99 DVD; Disney)
The Avengers assemble yet again to combat Ultron, a diabolical robot determined to eliminate humanity from the face of the earth. Nerdgasms abound compliments writer/director Joss Whedon, who brings epic battles, comedic exchanges, and Marvel character favorites to the screen with character development and intimacy to boot. The extras’ gag reel alone is worth picking this up for, while other goodies include deleted and extended scenes, several featurettes, and a Whedon commentary track.
($19.99 DVD; Cinema Libre)
Several members of Chicago’s Puerto Rican transgender community prepare for the Vida/SIDA Cacica Pageant and share their life experiences in this enlightening documentary by directors Josue Pellot and Henrique Cirne Lima. The contestants include 20-year-old Julissa, 19-year-old Jolizza (whose mother, a transphobic lesbian, kicked her out of the house while still in high school), and teenaged Bianca, while much is learned from pageant emcee and the girls’ mentor, Ginger Valdez. Who wins the pageant? Only one way to know, but in the end, one hopes that all of these girls find their prizes in life.
ALSO OUT:
Zipper
Insidious 3
Manglehorn
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
Batkid Begins
Escobar: Paradise Lost
When Marnie Was There
American Horror Story: Freak Show
10,000 Saints
BigWill
Just saw Magic Mike XXL. Some errors in your reporting. One: Yes, Channing Tatum is returning, but with plenty of clothing. For a movie about male strippers, there’s just about zero flesh and very little stripping (compared with the original). Two: “Erotic showmanship”? Not so much (see no. 1). Three: “Road-movie style fun.” It’s certainly a road movie, as the guys from the first load up in a food truck and head to Charleston, SC, for a stripper convention. It’s about as erotic, sexy and fun as a field trip to the box factory.
I don’t, the first one wasn’t much, but the stripping was fun, and the guys were hot. This one is…a comedy that isn’t funny, or a drama that isn’t dramatic, and is missing anything that would make it watchable (hot guys stripping). It’s just sort of tone-deaf and weird.