'Broadchurch': English murder mystery shines
British TV writer Chris Chibnall achieved something special with the ITV show Broadchurch: It's a tense, gripping murder mystery, for sure, but the eight-episode series that was shown on BBC America in August also is a brilliantly plotted, multilayered, intimate character study.
British TV writer Chris Chibnall achieved something special with the ITV show
Broadchurch
: It's a tense, gripping murder mystery, for sure, but the eight-episode series that was shown on BBC America in August also is a brilliantly plotted, multilayered, intimate character study.
Set in a sleepy little tourist spot on England's southern coast, the drama stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman as detectives in charge of investigating the worst crime the tight-knit community of Broadchurch has ever witnessed, the murder of an 11-year-old boy.
Featuring a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Jodie Whittaker as the boy's mother, Broadchurch examines with great style how the boy's death ripples throughout the town, affecting the community in profound ways.
Broadchurch: Season 1 was released on DVD Tuesday. (http://entertainmentone.com; $39.98; not rated)
Other titles of note
Anger Management, Vol. 3. Despite the many off-screen shenanigans that earn him headlines in gossip columns, Charlie Sheen remains an engaging, even brilliant performer. He is at his blustering best as an anger management therapist in this sitcom. Selma Blair costars as his own therapist and Shawnee Smith as his ex-wife. (www.lionsgate.com/he; $34.98 DVD $34.97 Blu-ray; not rated)
The Practice: The Final Season. James Spader is at his charming, seductive, and wonderfully sleazy best as a new member of the firm in the eighth and final season of David E. Kelley's legal drama, which aired on ABC from 1997 to 2004. The season features some red hot guest stars, including Chris O'Donnell as a man accused of killing his pregnant wife. All 22 episodes are included in a six-disc set due April 15 from Shout! Factory. (www.shoutfactory.com; $29.93; not rated)
Black Jack: 35th Anniversary Edition. Acclaimed British director Ken Loach (Riff-Raff, The Angels' Share) makes a small budget stretch, and then some, in this imaginative 1979 adaptation of Leon Garfield's gothic children's novel from 1968 about a young lad who joins a criminal for a series of adventures in the London underworld of freak shows and lunatic asylums. It's due Tuesday from Cohen Media Group. (http://cohenmedia.net; $29.98 DVD; $39.98 Blu-ray; not rated)
Little House on the Prairie: Season 1 (Deluxe Remastered Edition). Starring Melissa Gilbert and Karen Grassle, this American family classic ran for nine seasons from 1974 to 1984. Lionsgate is releasing each season in newly restored and remastered editions. Look for Season 2 in May. (www.lionsgate.com/he; $29.98 DVD; $38.99 Blu-ray; not rated)
Key & Peele: Seasons 1 & 2. Comedy connoisseurs swear by the Comedy Central duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. The former MADtv stars are especially noted for their sketches about race relations. This boxed set contains all 18 episodes of their sketch comedy show's first two seasons. (http://shop.comedycentral.com/; $22.98 DVD; $24.99 Blu-ray; not rated)
Best Friends Forever. Character actress Brea Grant, who already has amassed a remarkable resumé, makes her directing debut with this seriously off-the-wall horror comedy pic in which she also stars. Grant plays a comic-book artist who teams up with her BFF Reba (Vera Miao) for a road trip in their '76 AMC Pacer. The fun really starts when the gals realize the apocalypse is upon the world. (ww.kinolorber.com; $26.95; not rated)