A clown terrorizing a New England town and a group of women hustling Wall Street clowns top new DVD releases for Dec. 10.
"Hustlers": In this almost-modern-day "Robin Hood" meets "Goodfellas," based on Jessica Pressler's New York magazine article with the same name and directed and written by Lorene Scafaria, "Hustlers" follows Destiny (Constance Wu), a stripper struggling to make ends meet. After Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) takes Destiny under her wing and shows her how to succeed at the club, the 2008 financial crisis overwhelms the industry, and the women concoct a bold new plan to continue making money: running up seedy Wall Street men's credit cards, confident they wouldn't call the strip club back to dispute the charges.
"Scafaria plants her film in a specific pantheon and signals what we're in for with this sprawling crime epic of questionable narrators, unbelievable amounts of cash, and the charismatic criminals who enjoy the spoils of their unique labor," wrote Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review. "This is girlie 'Goodfellas,' and it's an energizing instant crime classic, a shot of adrenaline cloaked in cocoa butter."
Pretty much everything about this movie is perfect, but especially: J. Lo attempting wealth redistribution, J. Lo smoking and lounging on a rooftop, J. Lo celebrating Christmas, all the angst-filled classical piano juxtaposed against dazzling early-2000s nostalgia, and did I mention J. Lo?
"It Chapter Two": The "It" reboot may have only come out two years ago, but this sequel takes a big leap forward, revisiting the Losers Club 27 years after the last time Pennywise the Clown had terrorized the town of Derry, Maine. Only Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) is still in Derry, and he summons the group back when heinous crimes and Pennywise's balloons begin resurfacing in the town, to uphold the blood oath they made as kids.
Its bloated run time makes it suffer, wrote Los Angeles Times critic Jen Yamato in her review, but the script is effective when its characters' emotions resonate.
"As its two hours, 49-minute run time marches on, 'It Chapter Two' loses sight of the forest for the trees, even with Benjamin Wallfisch's portentous score signaling the way," Yamato wrote. "A particularly unwieldy and overstuffed third act lacks the elegance and dexterity that Muschietti builds into his best individual sequences. As a result, several of the characters' psychological journeys feel abbreviated into repetitive, bite-sized vignettes in the rush to get to the end...
"Like most studio horror films of a certain sheen, 'It Chapter Two' is not gory so much as it is playfully macabre, a choice that dulls the scares just enough to appeal to a broad audience. But Dauberman's screenplay lands best when it speaks a more emotional dialect of horror, an adults-in-therapy horror _ the kind that will land with a sting of recognition for anyone who's seen their own childhood wounds crash head-on into the realities of middle age."
ALSO NEW ON DVD DEC. 10
"Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood": In director Quentin Tarantino's ninth film, a TV actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt) struggle to find meaningful work in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969.
"Linda Rondstadt: The Sound of My Voice": Documentary follows the famed folk singer through her early years and reign as a rock 'n' roll star.
"Monos": A group of young soldiers on a remote Latin American mountain watch over an American hostage while chaos strikes. In Spanish/English.
"Freaks": A 7-year-old girl (Lexy Kolker) escapes her paranoid father's (Emile Hirsch) locked house and discovers a strange new world.
"Along Came the Devil 2": Jordan (Laura Slade Wiggins) goes home to her estranged father after getting a troubling voicemail.
"Badland": A detective (Kevin Makely) is hired to catch a Confederate war criminal in this Western directed by Justin Lee.
"Family Guy Season 17": The 2018-19 season of the long-running animated Fox series created by and starring Seth MacFarlane.
"Suits: Season Nine": The ninth and final season of the USA legal drama wraps up the series.
OUT ON DIGITAL HD DEC. 10
"Hard Night Falling": An Interpol operative (Dolph Lundgren) must fight a ruthless criminal to save a group of hostages that includes his family.
"Judy": Renee Zellweger stars as struggling legendary singer Judy Garland, who travels to London to perform at a series of sold-out Talk of the Town concerts to raise money to rejoin her children in Los Angeles. Look for it on DVD and Blu-Ray Dec. 24.
"The Limey": An English ex-con (Terence Stamp) goes to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death in this 1999 Steven Soderbergh drama/mystery being released as a 4K restoration.
"Tattoo Uprising": Documentary follows the history and rise of the tattoo industry.
