12 Monkeys (Arrow Video Blu-ray)
A virus that emerges from a research lab with poor security protocols, causing a deadly worldwide pandemic, sounds a lot like recent headline news. But director Terry Gilliam and cowriter David Peoples were already on the story in 1995 with 12 Monkeys, a film set in the future and the past. In 2035, leaders of the fragment of society that survived a 20th century pandemic, which killed 5 billion people, send a convict, James Cole (Bruce Willis), back to the ‘90s. He’s meant to prevent the catastrophic virus unleashed by fringe animal rights terrorists willing to take the ultimate step. They seek to save the planet by exterminating humanity.
Willis proves marvelously versatile in his role as the expendable time-traveling scout confined to a mental ward when he returns to the ‘90s. No one believes his warnings about the coming pandemic, but one psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) gives him some benefit of the doubt. Brad Pitt is maniacally bonkers as the terrorist leader and Christopher Plummer aces the role as the virologist whose research enables the disaster.
Gilliam shoots many scenes from askew angles, emphasizing the subjectivity of reality in a story where dreams are memories of events yet to come. 12 Monkeys asks: Can we change the future if everything has already happened? The new “Steel Box” release includes an informative booklet, an interview with Gilliam, a feature-length making-of documentary and other bonuses. (David Luhrssen)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (In theaters and streaming on HBO Max)
The court room drama in this story is based on Arne Cheyenne Johnson’s (played by Ruairi O’Connor), actual 1981 case claiming the devil made him murder his landlord. As in previous “Conjuring” films, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga portray real-life married paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. They and Johnson were part of a young boy’s exorcism, at which Johnson claimed the demon transferred into him. Maintaining the Warrens’ caring image means overlooking their efforts to arrange movie rights and lecture tours, in advance of the verdict. Released a week earlier in the UK, Metacritic rates it 57/100. Frequent paranormal scares earn the film its horror-genre inclusion. (Lisa Miller)
Spirit Untamed (In theaters on June 4)Romanticizing girls and horses worked well in the animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and again in its Netflix animated series “Spirit Riding Free.” This latest (and yes, animated) film introduces young Lucky (Isabela Merced), a city-dweller raised by her Aunt Cora (Julianne Moore). The child’s rebellious ways prompt their move to Miradero, a small town on the open frontier, and home of Lucky’s dad (Jake Gyllenhaal). The girl becomes fast friends with a wild Mustang named Spirit, being pursued by profit-seeking horse-wranglers. Lucky enlists friends, Abigail (Mckenna Grace) and Pru (Marsai Martin), to help save the steed and his mares in this PG-rated adventure that ushers in the release of a video game. (Lisa Miller)
Sam Cooke Legend (Abkco Films DVD)
Sam Cooke was telegenic at a time when Blacks were seldom seen on television. Legend chronicles a life that began in Mississippi and found its purpose singing in his father’s South Side Chicago church. By age 19 he was recruited for The Soul Stirrers, a top gospel group and by age 25 was a hitmaker in the pop market. Legend claims Cooke invented soul music (the director never heard of Ray Charles?) but he was influential on Black performers as well as becoming a crossover success. Cooke’s magnetic personality and the warmth of his voice shine through the archival footage. As shown in the recent feature film, One Night in Miami …, Cooke was inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” to finally comment on civil rights with the haunting “A Change is Gonna Come,” only to die after its release in a bizarre incident. (David Luhrssen)
