User blog:Ceauntay/DVD reviews: 'Teen Titans: The Movie', 'Battleship'

The Washington Post

The following films are available this week on home video:

"Teen Titans: The Movie" -- DC Nation's comic book superheroes brings back memories to audiences as they decides to bring back their favorite heroes for an another adventure. Main voice cast Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Hynden Walch, Khary Payton and Tara Strong all reprise their roles as the Teen Titans. Michael Chang, Ben Jones and Matt Younberg directed the film, while creator of the show itself David Slack produces and writes the film. "Teen Titans: The Movie" is dark, funny and a very brillant movie that comic book fans and any other fans would love to see. DC Nation also debuts a short series on Cartoon Network. However, following the success, DC Nation decides to bring the Titans back to television in 2013 with a show entitled "Teen Titans Go!" Rockband Green Day has performed the theme song of the show "Teen Titans" for the film, and is part of the film's soundtrack. DVD extras: going on tour with the Teen Titans. Also, on Blu ray: behind the scenes for the film, DC Nation shorts, and deleted scenes.

"Battleship" -- Hasbro's venerable game of naval strategy, in which players use a combination of guesswork and logic to deduce the location of their opponents' ships - isn't exactly known for its thrill-a-minute narrative complexity. Fear not. "Battleship" is an invigorating blast of cinematic adrenaline. Deftly directed by Peter Berg, from a script by brothers Eric and Jon Hoeber that adds muscle, sinew and heart to the skeletal source material, the resulting film is an enormously entertaining amusement-park ride. Yes, it's a bit preposterous, not to mention loud. But it's also brisk and viscerally thrilling, with a genuine surprise or two - including a plot twist that manages to brilliantly incorporate the game's essential DNA of blindly shooting at invisible targets. It's the action that propels this fleet film forward. Like its naval namesake, "Battleship" may be bulky, long and overblown, but when it gets in the water it's as nimble as a speedboat. Sure, it may be beset by a few cliches, but it manages to outmaneuver them all in the end. Contains action violence, mayhem and some obscenity. DVD extras: Featurettes "Preparing for Battle," "All Hands on Deck: The Cast" and "Engage in Battle." Also, on Blu-ray: alternate ending pre-visualization and five featurettes, including a short on visual effects, a behind-the-scenes with director Peter Berg, "USS Missouri VIP Tour" and "Alien Tech 3D Model Turntable Explosions."

"Think Like a Man" -- An all-star revue of some of the most physically stunning actors in Hollywood, "Think Like a Man" is a pleasure if only on a purely sensory level. The nine main characters in "Think Like a Man" might be archetypes-bordering-on-stereotypes, but all manage to resemble authentic human beings, thanks to the terrific actors who play them: Taraji P. Henson, Meagan Good, Regina Hall and Gabrielle Union. Each of these gorgeous, high-achieving, self-aware women faces a specific dating problem for which Harvey has just the right advice. Harvey's advice - with its 90-day rules before having sex and warnings against being a "chirp-chirp" girl - doesn't break any ground. Forget hackneyed cliches about Players and Dreamers and the scheming women who seek to domesticate them. Focus on the pleasures of watching a group of gifted actors spar and seduce each other with genuine warmth, and "Think Like a Man" just might go straight to your head. Contains sexual content, some crude humor and brief drug use. DVD extras: deleted scenes, blooper reel. Also, on Blu-ray: four behind-the-scenes featurettes.

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" -- The charmingly goofy animated feature showcases characters known only as the Pirate Captain, the Pirate with Gout, the Albino Pirate, etc. The day-to-day business of pirating ... they're not so good at. Adapted by Gideon Defoe from his series of children's books, "The Pirates!" is built around the premise of a reality-TV-style contest between the Pirate Captain and three other blackguards: Black Bellamy, Cutlass Liz and Peg Leg Hastings. In his search for ships filled with booty, the Pirate Captain accidentally sacks the HMS Beagle, the research ship of Charles Darwin (voiced by David Tennant), leading to a more landlocked, and delightfully ludicrous, adventure. Like many Aardman Animations films, this one is awash with silliness. It has enough humor to keep Mom and Dad from falling asleep. As with Aardman's "Wallace and Gromit" films, there's a sardonic animal sidekick. Perhaps, by the second "Pirates!" film, there will be a character as beloved as Gromit. In the meantime, "The Pirates!" has made a buoyant maiden voyage. Contains mild cartoon action and some rude humor. DVD extras: Filmmakers' commentary, "So You Want to Be A Pirate!" mini-movie and "Mr. Bobo's Flash Card Challenge." Also, on Blu-ray: "Pirate Disguise Dress-Up" game, making-of featurette, "Creating the Bath Chase Sequence" featurette, two Peter Lord short films.

"The Lucky One" -- Can a drama be too restrained? "The Lucky One," adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel, features Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling in a sudsy romantic melodrama that lavishes good taste and sunsets on a story that - devoid of genuine tension, conflict or combustible chemistry between its two stars - just prettily sits there. Efron plays Logan Thibault, who as a Marine in Iraq happens upon a photograph of a beautiful blonde and proceeds to see the picture as a talisman that saves his life. When he returns to the United States, he tracks down the girl - who turns out to be a single mother named Beth (Schilling) - and begins working in the dog kennel she runs with her grandmother, played with vinegary acumen by Blythe Danner. Most of "The Lucky One" consists in proving how sensitive Logan is (he reads Melville and plays the piano with a suitably faraway look) and how put-upon Beth is as she clatters around her grandmother's impeccably distressed cottage and affects Veronica Lake-esque bangs-in-the-eye sultriness. Contains Contains mild cartoon action and some rude humor. DVD extra: "Zac and Taylor's Amazing Chemistry" featurette.

Also: "Monsieur Lazhar" (France, best foreign film Oscar nominee), "Headhunters," "The Viral Factor," "Darling Companion," "Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer" (1968-70, two-disc set with "Maidstone," "Wild 90" and "Beyond the Law, Criterion Collection), "The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season," "Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Second Season," "Quadrophenia" (1979, The Who's classic rock opera, Criterion Collection), "Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection," "Lonesome" (1928, Criterion Collection), "Changing the Game," "Starship Troopers: Invasion," "Etta James: Live at Montreux 1993," "The Beach Boys 50: Doin' It Again," "The Jungle Bunch: The Movie," "Jersey Shore Shark Attack," "Green Lantern The Animated Series: Rise of the Red Lanterns," "Battleground" (aka Skeleton Lake), "Two and a Half Men: The Complete Ninth Season" and "Apartment 143."