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THE SCREENING ROOM

ON DVD: The Best “Weekend” Ever, Plus: “The Dictator,” “Bernie,” And Dustin Lance Black’s “Virginia”

By Lawrence Ferber August 21, 2012 at 4:43pm
Last year’s highly acclaimed drama Weekend, which chronicles an intense 48-hour gay romance, kicks off a pretty awesome week in home entertainment: Dustin Lance Black wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical Virginia, starring Jennifer Connelly as a schizophrenic raising a teenage son. Jack Black plays the titular gay man driven to the brink by Shirley MacLaine in Bernie. The despot of a fictitious country wreaks havoc in New York in Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator (above). A closeted former hockey player and his adolescent daughter struggle in Grown Up Movie Star. And a pair of gay fathers search for their missing son in the quirky Sedona.
http://youtu.be/cYplvwBvGA4     The Dictator ($39.99 Blu-ray, $29.99 DVD; Paramount) In a departure from his Punk’d-style films Borat and Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen goes the fully scripted route, while still playing a total boor, with The Dictator. After he’s replaced with a doppelganger, obnoxious Admiral General Aladeen of the fictional dictatorship Wadiya hides out in New York and causes all sorts of headaches. Cohen again proves a master of satire and outrageous humor, and this “Banned & Unrated” Blu-ray/DVD release boasts more than a dozen deleted and extended scenes, a Larry King interview and music video.  
http://youtu.be/KfUxVyeXmhI Weekend ($35.99 Blu-ray, $29.99 DVD; Criterion Collection) An art-house hit praised by gay and mainstream press alike, British writer-director Andrew Haigh’s artful Weekend charts the unexpected but profound connection forged between a semi-closeted lifeguard, Russell, and Glen, a sexually liberated artist, during a weekend of conversations, sex, drugs, hitting the town, and epiphanies. This gorgeous Criterion Collection edition, overseen and approved by Haigh, is chock full of extras including interviews and features with the director and stars Chris New and Tom Cullen, as well as audition footage, a discussion about the film’s explicit sex scenes and two of Haigh’s earlier short films.  
Bernie ($28.99 DVD, Millennium Entertainment) In this based-on-a-true-story black comedy, Jack Black goes against type as a Bernie Tiede, a milquetoast, closeted undertaker who at first befriends rich old widow Margorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) but, when her demands become too much, plots her death. Another winner from Black and his School of Rock director, Richard Linklater.    
    Virginia ($22.49 DVD, E1 Entertainment) Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black debuts as a feature-film director with this semi-autobiographical tale of hypocrisy, love and instability in the boonies. Jennifer Connelly plays the schizophrenic titular Virginia, who carries on an affair with a married sheriff as her teenage son schemes to hightail it to greener pastures. This DVD release includes a making-of feature.  
http://youtu.be/c6l4exlChyg     Grown Up Movie Star ($24.99 DVD, Ariztical Entertainment) In this Canadian drama, 13-year-olf Ruby is negotiating the treacherous waters of adolescent sexuality when she gets ditched by her troubled mother and ends up with her dad, Ray (Shawn Doyle of HBO’s Big Love). But Ray is dealing with his own drama—namely his nascent homosexuality.  

http://youtu.be/rLK0yoRcTXo

 

 

Sedona
($34.95 Blu-ray, $29.95 DVD; Pasidg Productions)

One of the main storylines in this this ensemble drama set in the seemingly mystical town of Sedona, Arizona, features a gay couple (Seth Peterson and Matthew J. Williamson) taking their two young sons hiking. When the youngest, 7-year-old Danny, goes missing, one of the dads tries to find him—and winds up doing some serious soul-searching along the way.

 

ALSO OUT ON DVD

A Separation

House: Season 8

Good Will Hunting: 15th Anniversary Edition

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1, Vol. 1

 

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5 Comments*

  • PrettyLittleLiar

    Weekend was my favorite movie of last year. I was simply elegant and heartbreaking. I plan on spending the $30 for it. It deserves to be included in the Criterion Collection for sure.

  • Peter

    Weekend: real, honest, funny. The only gay movie I ever liked. Watched it twice on Netflix.

  • Lefty

    It’s not really my favourite gay film, but I did think Weekend was a wonderful movie and more than any other gay film I’ve seen I think, it kind of stays with you long after it’s finished.
    I think it may become my favourite gay film, to be honest. It’s truer than any other I’ve seen, certainly.
    I may watch it again tonight…

  • Caicillius

    A REALLY excellent movie.Simple, heartbreaking but sincerity within. Great performances not-so-common script with a cute photography. A plus!

  • Cee

    I love Weekend. I had a similar experience and I think a lot of guys have been there.

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