Now Available to Own: Lucy, The Boxtrolls, Annabelle, and More

Brace your bank accounts, it’s time to see what’s Now Available to Own for the week of January 20, 2015. Each week we run down new movie, television, and video game releases that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home, as well as some slick deals that can save you some coin. On shelves this week you can find Lucy, The Boxtrolls, Annabelle, and more. Check out the complete list after the jump.

Movies on Blu-Ray

Lucy (Luc Besson) Rated R [89 min] – A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, and Min-sik Choi

With some stand out action scenes and a really ballsy sci-fi ending that may have been way too smart for its own good, I love how Lucy goes for big ideas rather than succumbs to a limited perspective of Hollywood shlock. And although the movie isn’t quite as well put together as you would have hoped, it is very daring and you have to give it credit for that. Special features included are:

The Evolution of Lucy (Blu-ray Only)
Cerebral Capacity: The True Science of Lucy

Annabelle (John R. Leonetti) Rated R [98 min] – John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia – a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now… Annabelle. Starring Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Eric Ladin, and Tony Amendola

Sadly Annabelle’s short prologue in The Conjuring worked more effectively than the entire run time of this film. This is a perfect example of what can go wrong when you stretch a short story premise into a feature length project. If Annabelle came out before The Conjuring and 10 years earlier, this might have worked. This movie is quite boring, there are new scares, and the couple, as well cast as they are, they aren’t interesting. Luckily James Wan will return for The Conjuring 2. Special features included are:

The Curse of Annabelle
Bloody Tears of Possession (Blu-ray Only)
Dolls of the Demon (Blu-ray Only)
A Demonic Process (Blu-ray Only)
Deleted Scenes (Blu-ray Only)

The Boxtrolls (Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi) Rated PG [97 min] – A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow. Starring Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, and Richard Ayoade

Laika is an extraordinary stop motion animation studio that really gives it their all with some of the most original ideas today. The Boxtrolls is very genuine and fun, but it kind of drags. And although the sets and the characters are very well done, everything is kind of really ugly to look at. Everything looks very similar and the town and the Boxtrolls home is very plain – it hardly scratches at the surface of how many colors we see in movies such as Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon 2, or The LEGO Movie. Special features included are:

Feature Commentary with Directors Graham Annable And Anthony Stacchi
Preliminary Animatic Sequences with Optional Commentary by Annable and Stacchi
Voicing The Boxtrolls
Inside the Box
The Big Cheese: Allergy Snatcher
Deconstructing the Dance
Think Big: The Mecha Drill
The Nature of Creation
Trolls Right Off the Tongue
Allergic to Easy
Let’s Dance
On the Shoulders of Giants

The Drop (Michaël R. Roskam) [Limited] Rated R [106 min] – Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood’s past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living – no matter the cost. Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, and Erin Darke

I wasn’t able to catch this feature, but I have heard pretty great things about it. Special features included are:

Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Michael R. Roskam and Dennis Lehane
Promotional Featurettes
- Keeping it Real
- Making of The Drop
- Making Brooklyn Your Own
- Rocco the Dog
- Character Profile: James Gandolfini
Audio Commentary by Michael R. Roskam and Dennis Lehane

The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam) Rated R [107 min] – A computer hacker whose goal is to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; namely, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him. Starring Christoph Waltz, Lucas Hedges, and Mélanie Thierry

Another movie that slipped past me last year. I really haven’t heard much of anything positive or negative. I think Christoph Waltz looks like he puts in a pretty crazy performance, which is the ultimate reason why I’d be interested in checking it out. Special features included are:

Behind the Scenes Featurette
Visual Effects Featurettes
Original Trailer

White Bird in a Blizzard (Gregg Araki) Rated R [91 min] – In 1988, a teenage girl’s life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears. Starring Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, and Shiloh Fernandez

One of the most aggravating movies I’ve seen in recent memory. The whole movie is lifeless and dull. The performances themselves were enough to make me want to eject the disk out my window. As much as I like the actors, nothing works for this film. White Bird in a Blizzard is so painstakingly unbearable that a Tyler Perry movie has better direction and makes more narrative sense. Special features included are: