#Middlebury #DVDs
“Fighting With My Family” (PG-13) – When dad Ricky Knight (Nick Frost) catches siblings Raya (Florence Pugh) and Zak (Jack Lowden) fighting, instead of breaking the kids up, he offers pointers on Zak’s headlock. The Knights are a wrestling family. The kids step in the ring on the local circuit and eventually get a tryout for a professional spot with WWE, but only Raya is accepted. She is whisked off to Florida to train, an ocean away from her family, in the care of an obnoxious trainer played by Vince Vaughn and feeling that she’s not like the other girls. I went in expecting it to be a little bit “girl power” – it’s based on the real-life story of WWE’s Paige, the youngest Diva Champion – but I left feeling like it’s more about becoming comfortable with your own strengths, a message that applies to Raya and her brother.
Jessica Rothe in “Happy Death Day 2U” (Universal Pictures photo)
“Happy Death Day 2U” (PG-13) – In this surprisingly infectious sequel to 2017’s “Happy Death Day,” Jessica Rothe returns as the perpetually perishing Tree Gelbman, who finally made it to Tuesday (in the original, she kept dying and returning to wake up again on Monday morning, a la “Groundhog Day”). But then her pal Ryan (Phi Vu) announces that HE is reliving the same day over again, and Tree jumps in with an assist. It had to be tremendously tricky to find a legitimate follow-up story, but producer Jason Blum and writer/director Christopher Landon managed to hit just the right time loop, coming up with a sequel that’s still irreverent and self-deprecating, funny and somehow novel, despite the fact that it’s a repetitive remake of itself.
“Cold Pursuit” (R) – Liam Neeson headlines as Nels Coxsman, a snow-plow driver in a Colorado ski town. He’s a nice fellow, the hokey kinda guy whose fellow townsfolk would name “Citizen of the Year.” But then his son turns up dead of an overdose under some very suspicious circumstances (according to his brother with a criminal past), and ol’ Nels decides to go after the local drug kingpin, named The Viking. Is he a stone-hearted killer? Nope, just a guy with a death vendetta, a snowplow, a can-do attitude and lots of places to hide bodies.
“Apollo 11” (G) – Director Todd Douglas Miller takes advantage of a previously undiscovered archive of footage and audio recordings surrounding Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s voyage to the moon and back in the documentary “Apollo 11.” It covers pre-flight training, preparations and interviews and continues all the way through the actual moonwalk and return flight. Featuring voice-overs from Walter Cronkite, and painstakingly restored and scanned film, you’ll find new background on key players. While its commanding scale is best viewed in large-format IMAX, it’s still worthwhile as a rental, particularly if you have an interest in the space program.
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