“Queen of Katwe” (Disney DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99; also available on VOD)
There’s a pleasing predictability to director Mira Nair’s underdog sports drama “Queen of Katwe,” which tells the true story of Phiona Mutesi, an uneducated Ugandan peasant who became a chess champion with the help of coach/missionary Robert Katende. The beats here are very familiar: A youngster shows promise, shocks her competition, suffers setbacks and then endures, inspiringly. But newcomer Madina Nalwanga is absolutely winning as Phiona — as is Lupita Nyong’o as her struggling mother and David Oyelowo as her coach — and Nair draws on her decades of experience in putting poverty on film to give a Disney-approved feel-good film a vivid sense of place.
(Special features: A Nair commentary track, deleted scenes and featurettes that dig deeper into the lives of the real Phiona and Robert.)
“The Witness for the Prosecution” (available Jan. 30 exclusively on Acorn TV)
Don’t dial up the new BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s short story “The Witness for the Prosecution” expecting anything like Billy Wilder’s beloved 1957 adaptation. The older version was more of a straightforward courtroom drama — with the twist being that the trial’s in Britain, with all its arcane procedures — while the new one focuses more on the personal lives of the characters, following a frail solicitor (played by Toby Jones ) as he defends a murder suspect despite receiving no help from the man’s chilly wife. Writer Sarah Phelps (who previously adapted Christie’s “And Then There Were None” to great acclaim) returns to the original text, with its crueler twists and turns, and then fleshes it out into a haunting mystery-play, rooted in the trauma and regrets of World War I.
Kristen Stewart enjoyed the free-form aspect of making her short film, « Come Swim » which is showing at the Sundance Film Festival. She doesn’t see that as a directorial stepping-stone to full-length features.
The young women in « Step » demonstrate a routine at the L. A. Times photo studio during the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary is about senior girls in a Baltimore high school step team as they prepare to be the first in their families to attend college.
Casey Affleck talks about the way Kenneth Lonergan uses everyday language to convey deep emotion in « Manchester by the Sea. »
For her role as Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman says, « It’s not a fashion story, » but the clothes do tell a story.
Joel Edgerton talks about staying truthful to the real-life story of « Loving. »
“Victoria: The Complete First Season” (PBS DVD, $49.99; Blu-ray, $59.99)
PBS’ “Masterpiece” is angling for another “Downton Abbey”-level ratings smash with the historical drama “Victoria,” which looks at the class differences and courtly codes of mid 19th century England. Jenna Coleman plays a young Queen Victoria, who assumes the throne at age 18 and then has to learn from her prime minister and mentor (played by Rufus Sewell) how to be a strong leader, lest she become the puppet of European aristocracy. This series doesn’t spare the political intrigue, but it’s first and foremost an elegant primetime soap about romance, betrayal and the wide gaps between the wealthy and their staff.
(Special features: Featurettes)
“Pinocchio: Signature Collection” (Disney DVD/Blu-ray, $39.99)
Back in 1940, Walt Disney suffered a rare box-office disappointment with his studio’s animated adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s moralistic fable “Pinnochio,” about a puppet that yearns to be “a real boy.” Now though, the movie is rightly regarded as a classic because of its refreshingly dark tones and painterly beauty. Disney softened Collodi’s hard edges with comic relief, along with sentimental songs like “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Yet “Pinocchio” retains a hard punch, capturing the feeling of what it’s like to be a child sweating out the judgment of grown-ups. It look like a 19th century European storybook, but it tells a timeless tale about how we can only hope to be better because we’re all so crummy to begin with.
(Special features: Featurettes)
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (Paramount DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99; 4K, $49.99; also available on VOD); “Masterminds” (20th Century Fox DVD, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99; also available on VOD); “ Tyler Perry ‘s Boo! A Madea Halloween” (Lionsgate DVD, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.99; also available on VOD).
