Blu-ray Today: InnerSpace, Insurgent and Zombie Mad Max

InnerSpace – Seeing this movie for the first time was one of the purest filmgoing experiences of my life. Beyond the title and a logline that ran in the local paper – something like “A man prepares to be miniaturized to go inside the body of a laboratory rabbit” – I knew nothing about it. Needless to say if you’ve seen the movie, you know a lot more happens than that.

It was also my first conscious exposure to Martin Short, Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Robert Picardo and so many other greats; I’m not even sure it registered that this was the director of Gremlins, too. For those who haven’t seen it (and what’s wrong with you?), the shrinking experiment goes wrong, and Dennis Quaid in his micro-submarine ends up getting injected into the ass of hypochondriac grocery-store clerk Martin Short. From there, madcap antics ensue as the various forces who want control of the shrinking technology pursue our totally hapless protagonist – his only chance is to do exactly what the miniaturized Quaid-voice inside his head tells him he must. Director Joe Dante compares it to a Road Runner cartoon, and he’s not wrong.

All the extras are ported over from the old DVD, but the feature gets a new transfer at least.

Insurgent – The most specialest girl in the world must continue to prove that she can’t simply be confined to one character trait for the rest of her life. I haven’t seen this, but I hear that the Divergent sequel doesn’t exactly break out of its own pre-determined faction. I’m glad Shailene Woodley’s cashing in but I wish it were for something better.

Oprhan Black: Season 3 – Something something Tatiana Maslany something something clones. Is that about right? I know, I know, I should be watching it. One day.

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead – This is that awesome-looking post-apocalypse film I showed you the trailer for a while back, in which Road Warrior-ish vehicles are fueled by the bodies of zombies. If I need to say more, I think you must not have read the preceding sentence correctly.

Blast From the Past – Brendan Fraser plays a 35 year-old man who has lived his entire life in a fallout shelter, after dad (Christopher Walken) felt certain the world was about to end in 1962. But this isn’t a Fallout game – it’s our world, and when Junior emerges, he winds up falling for Alicia Silverstone. Now, how will he tell his parents without giving them heart attacks? Not a bad little high-concept comedy, but the only extra is the theatrical trailer, which seems a rip-off. Is Silverstone REALLY too busy these days to do something for it?

Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal – Sorry about the deceptive name: there are no Gelflings or Skeksis in this film. In fact, it’s hard to find much about this one at all save that it’s directed by the Oscar-winning cinematographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and “is a big budget (30M US) romantic fantasy adventure about the legendary hero Zhong Kui, a fabled warrior with mysterious powers who is forced to conquer the realms of Heaven and Hell to save his people and the woman he loves.”

The Nightmare – The director of the Shining conspiracy doc Room 237 now turns to sleep paralysis and nightmares, including a few creepy re-creations based on his subjects’ accounts.

Toolbox Murders 2 – A sequel to a remake, minus director Tobe Hooper or star Angela Bettis, who, along with cinematographer Steve Yedlin, made the first one feel like an affectionate, unofficial tribute to Lucky McKee’s May. Bruce Dern’s in the new one for a few minutes, and I hear it’s pretty heavy on the gore. Ethan Phillips is in it too, so if you ever wanted to see Star Trek Voyager‘s annoying Mr. Neelix get killed, you might be able to. (Psst: cast Ahmed Best in part 3, please, filmmakers.)

That’s all I got for this week. Anything else worth a look out today?