New Releases: 'Bone Tomahawk' has more to chew on than the average western

New Releases: ‘Bone Tomahawk’ has more to chew on than the average western

By Noel Murray

Dec. 27, 2015 9 AM PT

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Bone Tomahawk

Image, $29.96; Blu-ray, $29.97

Available on VOD

The western made a big-screen comeback in 2015, with the likes of “Slow West,” “The Hateful Eight,” “The Revenant,” and (yes) “The Good Dinosaur” bringing gunslingers, cattle-wranglers, and frontier danger back into the mainstream. The most original of the bunch is the horror-tinged oater “Bone Tomahawk,” written and directed by cult pulp novelist S. Craig Zahler. Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox and Richard Jenkins play members of a posse riding out into the desert to rescue friends and loved ones who’ve been abducted by a cannibal cult. Flavorful dialogue, memorable performances and a dark, bloody milieu set “Bone Tomahawk” apart from typical cowboys-and-Indians fare. The film is steeped in the classics but reaches beyond them too — not always successfully but in ways that are at least consistently exciting. The DVD and Blu-ray tack on a deleted scene, featurette and an extended interview with Zahler and the cast.

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Pawn Sacrifice

Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98

Available on VOD

Tobey Maguire plays prickly chess champion Bobby Fischer in “Pawn Sacrifice,” which races through Fischer’s early years to get to the international hubbub — and political gamesmanship — that surrounded his 1972 battle with Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky. Director Edward Zwick and screenwriter Steven Knight adopt a blunt, remedial approach to this story, over-explaining everything from chess strategy to the Cold War. But Fischer himself is such a fascinating figure (played well here by Maguire) that the film remains passably diverting throughout. The DVD and Blu-ray include a short documentary on the actual Fischer/Spassky match.

Queen of Earth

MPI, $24.98

Though not as aesthetically exciting as Alex Ross Perry’s magnificent 2014 comedy “Listen Up, Philip,” the writer-director’s follow-up film reinforces that he’s one of the most creative and ambitious filmmakers working in American independent cinema today. Perry re-teams with one of his “Philip” stars, Elisabeth Moss, who plays a woman trying to get over a bad breakup by going away for a week with an old friend (played by Katherine Waterston). It doesn’t take long for the two to realize that they’re in different places in their lives and aren’t really companionable when it comes to dealing with something serious. Perry pitches the deterioration of their vacation like a thriller, keeping the frame tight and the tone nerve-racking. This is the kind of intimate, intense drama that Ingmar Bergman would’ve made in his heyday.

Nasty Baby

Sony, $26.99

Kristen Wiig continues her strange post-”Saturday Night Live” journey into indie-land with the entertaining but inexplicable “Nasty Baby,” written and directed by quirky author Sebastián Silva. Wiig plays a middle-aged Brooklynite who asks two gay friends (played by Silva and Tunde Adebimpe) to help her have a child. Before long, she gets involved in the couple’s obnoxious performance-art project, and as a result they all stumble into a life-threatening situation. Largely improvised, “Nasty Baby” has its moments but is ultimately too aimless and ugly, and it squanders another strong performance from one of our best contemporary comic actresses. The DVD adds an engaging Silva/Wiig/Adebimpe commentary track though, plus a featurette.

And…

Heist

Lionsgate, $19.98; Blu-ray, $24.99

Available on VOD

Hitman: Agent 47

20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99

Available on VOD Tuesday

Pan

Warner Bros., $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99/$44.95

Available on VOD

The Perfect Guy

Sony, $26.99; Blu-ray, $30.99