Couch Theater – Aug. 29, 2019

#Middlebury #DVDs

“The Hustle” (PG-13) – In this remake of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” Josephine Chesterfield (Anne Hathaway) is an elegant and refined beauty who preys on slick, wealthy men. Penny Rust (Rebel Wilson) is a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants catfisher who dupes low-brow guys out of fistfuls of bucks. Both con women set up residence in the lovely and fictional French town of Beaumont-sur-Mer, but two hustlers in one town is one too many. Unable to share the wealth of deserving suckers, they make a deal: Con the ultimate mark – app developer Thomas Westerburg (Alex Sharp) – and the loser has to leave town. There are some laughs for sure, but most of it tries way too hard to be clever or funny and ends up being neither.

Dennis Quaid in “A Dog’s Journey” (Universal Pictures photo)

“A Dog’s Journey” (G) – If something about this seems super familiar, you’re right. It’s a sequel to “A Dog’s Purpose,” and some of the players are the same. Josh Gad returns to voice Bailey the dog, who we follow as he hurtles through time, embodying different puppers along the way. Bailey starts out returned to her boy, Ethan (Dennis Quaid), but now watching over a new little kid: Ethan’s granddaughter CJ. When CJ’s mother takes her away from the farm, Bailey journeys again through lifetimes to find his girl and watch over her. If you cried at the first one, you’ll cry at this one, too. It’s simplistic but still sweet, and watchable by any age group.

“Brightburn” (R) – Here’s an interesting take on the superhero genre: a horror story. A baby boy falls to Earth inside a downed spaceship, landing on a farm in Kansas. A couple, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman), take in the boy they name Brandon (Jackson Dunn) and raise him as their own. They hide the ship in the barn. As the boy approaches puberty, he begins to come into his innate powers and sets off on a rampage worthy of a 12-year-old antihero, all the while egged on by the hidden spaceship’s murderous message.

“The Tomorrow Man” (PG-13) – Two eccentrics find love in the grocery aisle in a freshman effort by writer/director Noble Jones. John Lithgow is Ed, a doomsday-prepping, check-writing, cable-news watching, chatboard-loving retiree whose internet handle is “Captain Reality.” He’s a little delusional and a little sad. Enter Ronnie (Blythe Danner), a peculiar and spacey hoarder who is a vision in flowy skirts and baggy sweaters. Ed discovers Ronnie in the local grocers buying tuna cans and batteries. Must be a match, eh? The pair interact and showcase their numerous oddball tics and eccentricities.

New TV Releases
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” Season 6
“The Blue Bloods” Season 9
“Mayans MC” Season 1
“American Gods”

© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.

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