Screen Queen: New DVDs

Sister Act 2, Sarah Silverman, Evita and More

The Sarah Silverman Program: The Complete Series

The crass absurdity of Sarah Silverman’s prematurely offed Comedy Central series – one day she’s licking her dog’s butt to understand what he finds so appealing about it; the next, she’s an AIDS activist because she just might have HIV – is what made its genius three seasons a racy rollick. Joined by her “gay-bors” and sister (her real-life sibling), slacker Silverman finds herself in crazy, exaggerated and politically incorrect predicaments that teach her the wrong life lessons. Remember when she tried to be a lesbian? Or got suckered into an anti-abortion group? Thirty-two episodes of this type of ridiculousness aren’t enough, but they’ll have to do. EXTRAS: Lots! Commentaries from the crew (including Silverman), behind-the-scenes footage, audition videos, animated shorts and a fun Q&A from Comic-Con.

 

Sister Act / Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

Sister Act doesn’t just gimme the giggles because one of my best – and gayest – memories is linked to it: my 12-year-old self draped in a white sheet with a black pillow case wrapped over my head, reenacting “I Will Follow Him” with my girl cousins, hitting those high notes while biology was still on my side. No. Marc Shaiman’s nuns-on-the-run revelation, now 20 years old (holy cow!), was so much fun – period – it made me wonder why the Catholic church couldn’t always have a Whoopi, some dancing and a bunch of musical numbers. Basically, God’s house needed to be as gay as this movie, which gets a fab Blu-ray transfer. Also included is the sequel, with a very young Jennifer Love Hewitt and an awful plot – a sin, for sure. EXTRAS: Almost none, but who cares as long as Lady Soul’s music video for “If My Sister’s In Trouble” is included? And it is. God bless them.

 

Mirror Mirror

Who’s the fairest of them all? Certainly not this take on the Snow White classic. Julia Roberts camps up the Evil Queen role with sassiness…and a smile that’s reminiscent of, well, Julia Roberts (her sidekick is Nathan Lane, having a ball). No wonder Snow, played by a fantastic Lily Collins, doesn’t seem so threatened as she gets in girl-power mode, demonstrating that chicks don’t need a prince to save the day. But even so, you can’t blame her for keeping Armie Hammer (co-star of J. Edgar) around. Along with the divine visuals and costumes, he’s the eye-candy that helps make Mirror Mirror – a pretty silly, for-kids fairy-tale retelling – almost worth biting into. EXTRAS: Meh. Just a few extra scenes and cast interviews. Oh, and you can learn how to dance like a princess.

Evita

Don’t cry for her, Argentina – this is still Madonna’s best film role, despite some major misses in her big-screen career. That doesn’t mean the 1996 movie did Eva Peron, or her deeply inspiring and tragic story, justice. Besides avoiding political insight, the flawed musical-drama, also starring Antonio Banderas, felt like the longest music video ever – over two hours of lip-syncing is just too much. The Andrew Lloyd Webber-written music itself, however, ranks high in Madonna’s catalog, with Oscar winner “You Must Love Me” easily being one of her best ballads. And the Blu-ray remaster looks like a virgin: fresh and new. EXTRAS: A long and thorough look into the making of Evita, including Madonna being as narcissistic as ever.

 

21 Jump Street

His clothes stay on, but Channing Tatum – aka “Magic Mike” in his recent stripper flick – is still a sight to behold in a comedy that reboots an old TV show and amazingly doesn’t screw it up. Tatum plays Greg Jenko, a moronic officer-in-training who pairs with former classmate Morgan Schmidt – whom he bullied back in high school – to be badasses of the law. The twist, of course? They suck at their jobs. As the 20-somethings go undercover – totally out of their element among the revolutionized student body (they two-strap their bags!) – the cop romp becomes a riotous mix of drug gags, pro-gay hilarity, whip-smart dialogue and scenes of dry-humping that could only be better if Tatum, who should really do more comedy, got completely naked. EXTRAS: The best gags are in the movie, but more of the stupid duo goofing off in a blooper reel ain’t a bad thing. And don’t miss the many deleted scenes to catch Tatum engaging in some under-covers self-lovin’.

Chris Azzopardi is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service. Reach him via his website at www.chris-azzopardi.com.


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