Breaking Surface (Streaming December 15, on Apple TV)
Ida (Moa Gammel) and Tuva (Madeleine Martin) are half-sisters who share a Christmas scuba-diving ritual off a rugged bit of isolated Norwegian coastline. During their dive, a rock-slide traps Tuva 33 meters underwater. On land, the slide buries their equipment, leaving Ida sans car keys and frantically seeking a means to rescue her sister. Captioned in English, this Scandinavian thriller benefits from harrowing action and sparse dialog. (Lisa Miller)
Greenland (Streaming December 18, Video OnDemand)
Released theatrically overseas, stateside, the PG-13 Greenland opted for premium video-on-demand. Disaster flicks normally cry out for the big screen, but this comet-against-Earth tale uses limited large-scale sequences, favoring that which its protagonists actually see. Gerard Butler portrays John Garrity, a skyscraper expert married to Allison (Morena Baccarin), and father to their young son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd). When fragments arrive from space, its discovered that they foreshadow a potential extinction-event comet. Garrity has a family pass to a bunker in Greenland, if he can find them after they become separated. Critics give this one a collective thumbs up. (Lisa Miller)
“Hawaii Five-O: The Complete Series” (CBS DVD)
Many revivals of popular TV shows fizzled but the “Hawaii Five-O” remake (2010-2020) found enough audience to run for 10 seasons through this spring. The concept remains the same as in the ‘60s: cops fight serious crime on the idyllic pearl of the Pacific. The multi-ethnic, male-female Millennial-Gen X cast are rigged with all the high-tech toys but nothing can replace squealing tires and death-defying chases. The DVD set includes 240 episodes (plus bonus material). Fast, quippy, ironic, it stars terse-talking Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan as McGarrett and Danno. They break a few rules as they battle hackers, apocalyptic fires and hard-faced berserker psychopaths. Guest stars include Jimmy Buffett, Peter Fonda, Cloris Leachman, George Takei and many more. (David Luhrssen)
Raining in the Mountain (Film Movement Classics Blu-ray)
It must have looked gorgeous on big cinema screens. Raining in the Mountain (1979) begins with a trio walking through field and forest, ascending misty hills to reach a mountain top monastery. But there are hints early on that motives aren’t entirely pure. Taiwanese director-writer King Hu set his Buddhist fable on the pursuit of material acquisition in Ming Dynasty China. The film has pageantry and fine acting, and choreographs human movement with remarkable artistry, scored to an impressive musical soundtrack. In Raining in the Mountain martial arts enter art house cinema with gymnastic panache. (David Luhrssen)
White Riot (Film Movement Blu-ray)
It was one thing when David Bowie flirted theatrically with fascism. But when Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton came out for Enoch Powell, the Member of Parliament who proposed deporting “colored immigrants,” the shock led to Rock Against Racism. Rubika Shah’s White Riot documents the UK movement that broke down racial fear by bringing blacks together with whites, reggae with punk, against the rising tide of British white supremacy. Aside from flashes of late ‘70s concert footage (The Clash, Steel Pulse et. al.), White Riot’s reminds us that the sloganeering of Britain’s flag-draped National Front—“Keep Our Country Free From Invasion”—is chillingly pertinent in today’s America. (David Luhrssen)
