UNFRIENDED (Blu-ray/DVD Artwork). ©Universal Studios.
By ANGELA DAWSON
Front Row Features
Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line”) returns to her comedy roots in the female buddy comedy “Hot Pursuit,” available Tuesday, Aug. 11 in a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack. The actress is paired with Colombian comedienne Sofia Vergara, best known for her role on the popular TV sitcom “Modern Family.”
Witherspoon plays a cop who has been banished to the records room after messing up an investigation out in the field. She has a chance to redeem herself when she is called upon to escort Vergara’s Daniella Riva, the wife of a Texas mobster who has agreed to testify against a drug kingpin across the state from San Antonio to a Dallas courtroom.
It seems like a routine enough assignment, until Riva’s husband is knocked off and some dirty cops may be behind it. It’s then up to Witherspoon’s diminutive and by-the-book Officer Cooper to deliver her uncooperative witness, who also is a target of the bad guys.
Bonus features include “The Womance,” a mashup of Witherspoon and Vergara hanging out on the set, a gag reel, alternate ending and more.
The spotlight shines on the importance of being true to yourself in “Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Tales,” available in a DVD/Digital HD combo pack Tuesday, Aug. 11. Join Plum in Snowberry and the Seven Berrykins as she learns to believe in herself when putting on a small and simple play for a young audience. In Berryella and Prince Berry Charming, Huck agrees to be in a production, but then quickly realizes that he’d be happier behind the scenes. Strawberry, Lemon and Raspberry star as three princesses on a quest to rule a kingdom in The Littlest Berrykin, and realize that they can never succeed without kindness and generosity. With berry important lessons for young viewers, it’s curtain up on good times and friendship. The DVD includes printable coloring pages.
Sir Patrick Stewart stars with Israeli film legends Sasson Gabai (“The Band’s Visit”) and Moni Moshonov (“Late Marriage”) in the Israeli film “Hunting Elephants.” It is available Tuesday on DVD and Video on Demand. This heartwarming caper involves a precocious 12-year-old boy who conspires with three senior citizens to rob a bank in order to save himself and his mother from losing their house. The comedy is directed by Reshef Levi, which he co-wrote with his brother Regev Levy. The film is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
For a group of teenage friends, a devastating fate lurks on the other side of a computer screen in “Unfriended,” the first in a new generation of found-footage thrillers available now on Digital HD and coming to Blu-Ray, DVD and On Demand Tuesday, Aug. 11, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. “Unfriended” is a startlingly contemporary nail-biter from two modern masters of mayhem, executive producer Jason Blum (“The Purge,” “Sinister”) and producer Timur Bekmambetov (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” “Wanted”). Leo Gabriadze directs the horror film from a script by Nelson Greaves.
What starts as a seemingly innocent online prank produces a sequence of events that spirals out of control. During a routine group video chat, high-school friends are terrorized by an unseen figure. The anonymous intruder implicates each of them in the death of an acquaintance, revealing damning secrets and transforming trusted allies into wary adversaries. Forced into a sordid “game,” the teens try to figure out who is behind the mysterious threat, but all signs point to a power from beyond the grave. Playing out in real time almost entirely on a computer screen, “Unfriended” features a rising young cast that includes Shelley Hennig (“Ouija,” “Teen Wolf”), Moses Storm (“The 4 to 9ers: The Day Crew,” “About a Boy”) and Renee Olstead (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Still Standing”).
