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Hidden Gem – State and Main

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  • Title: State and Main
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State and Main DVD review

It’s about purity. We’ll double-down on Throwback Thursday this week to take a quick look at David Mamet‘s underrated 2000 comedy State and Main in which a movie set is forced to relocate to the sleepy town of Waterford, Vermont when their star’s (Alec Baldwin) love of underage girls gets them thrown out of New Hampshire. Immensely entertaining and highly quotable, this one never fails to make me laugh.

Go you Huskies. Featuring an amazing cast, Mamet gives us Philip Seymour Hoffman as the playwright turned screenwriter, William H. Macy as the film’s director, Baldwin and Sarah Jessica Parker as the film’s stars, and Rebecca Pidgeon, Clark Gregg, and Julia Stiles as townies. All turn out to be perfect fits for Mamet’s quick dialogue that takes equal swipes at Hollywood and small town life but still finds ways to celebrate each.

Everybody needs a hobby. The conflict in the film comes from the dysfunction of the set, the uproar the movie folks have on the town (in both positive and negative ways), and their star’s latest dalliance which puts the entire project in jeopardy.

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For the Love of Spock

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  • Title: For the Love of Spock
  • IMDb: link

For Love of Spock DVD reviewBegun before his father’s death as part of Star Trek‘s 50th Anniversary, Adam Nimoy takes a look at Leonard Nimoy‘s life and career, most notably his role as Spock. Including interviews from a wide swath of new and classic Trek actors, Nimoy interviews William Shatner, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, and Zoe Saldana, along with famous fans of Star Trek including Jim Parsons, Jason Alexander, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Although it doesn’t go into much depth about Nimoy’s life or his career, there are some nice anecdotes here and some fun classic stills and footage from his early career. Fans of Star Trek should enjoy themselves.

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Denial

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  • Title: Denial
  • IMDb: link

Denial Blu-ray reviewDenial is an intriguing film that, even if it never quite becomes as compelling as it should be, is still highly watchable. Rachel Weisz stars as Holocaust historian and author Deborah Lipstadt who is harassed and sued by Holocaust denier Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) for her comments hurting his reputation. Both the subject matter (and its ramifications) and the venue (Rampton chooses to sue her in a British court where the burden of proof falls on our author rather than the denier), separate it a bit from the pack of recent legal dramas.

Concerned with protecting the truth and exposing a dangerous man whose lies, if allowed to spread, may obscure the ugly truth of history from the future, Lipstadt chooses to fight rather than settle the case realizing by doing so she gives her enemy a pulpit to preach from but also hoping to destroy the man’s credibility once and for all. Available in DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a single behind-the-scenes featurette and the film’s trailer.

[Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray $29.98 / DVD $22.98]

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LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – Season One

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  • Title: LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – Season One
  • wiki: link

LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - Season One Blu-ray reviewSet between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the animated LEGO Star Wars series follows the misadventures of a family of mechanics whose youngest member discovers a connection to the Force and accepts the responsibility of keeping the fragments of a powerful weapon out of the hands of the Emperor (Trevor Devall).

Most of the series focuses on the trouble young Rowan (Nicolas Cantu) gets his older siblings Zander (Eugene Byrd) and Kordi (Vanessa Lengies) into while helping a Jedi (who is secretly a Sith) find and collect the fragments of the Kyber Saber.

Collected on DVD and Blu-ray, extras include two short featurettes on the Freemakers and their salvage business. Highlights of the season include the Freemakers on Hoth, a trip to the Imperial Museum on Naboo, and getting dragged into a Wookiee rescue mission.

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Gleason

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  • Title: Gleason
  • IMDb: link

Gleason DVD reviewOriginally intended as a video diary for Steve Gleason‘s unborn son, director Clay Tweel takes audiences along for the ride on the heart-wrenching journey of Gleason’s slow decline after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Going from a local football hero who helped rejuvenate the New Orleans Saints football team in the season following Hurricane Katrina to a man fighting to speak, move, and even breathe on his own is often difficult to watch. Refusing to give in, Gleason and his wife Michel continue to fight the incurable degenerative disease every step of the way including forming their own foundation to support others in need.

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