DivergentDivergent (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD), adapted from the young adult science fiction series written by Veronica Roth, is a metaphor without a physical or social reality convincing enough to make it worth investing ourselves in the story built around it.

It’s no fault of Shailene Woodley, who pretty much carries the film as the rebellious daughter in a society where you are defined by your clan. Her parents are Abnegation, which stands for the selfless, but Beatrice chooses Dauntless, the brave, rechristens herself Tris and jumps right into a warrior culture where her selflessness marks her for special treatment. It also rouses the attentions of the broody hunk Four (Theo James), who shares the same deep, dark secret that she does: her gifts straddle the factions, making her a danger to the Fascist Erudite clan. Because, as the film spells out for us, “If you don’t fit into a society, they can’t control you.” In this case, it turns out to be a literal form of control, which Tris rebels against and discovers an underground of like-minded rebels.

It’s all set in a ruined Chicago rebuilt after some unspoken apocalypse, protected from the dangers of the savage lands outside the walls. The plotting takes us through a familiar evolution of a character with a hidden gift who has to learn to get past preconceptions and take a stand for her convictions, but director Neil Burger and his crew fail to create a cast or a world around her to give the stakes any sense of power. That’s something that The Hunger Games gets right. The filmmakers have another film on the way to get it right so maybe they can take a cue.

Miles Teller is an angry Dauntless apprentice who feeds on the power and the violence of the competitive training environment, Maggie Q is the fringe artist who meets the rent by running the aptitude tests (think the Harry Potter sorting hat with sci-fi trappings), Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn are this society’s equivalent of the selfless, liberal, post-hippy parents who Tris thinks she’s rebelling against with the Dauntless immersion, and Kate Winslet gets to go all supervillain as the coldly calculating leader of the Erudite coup.

Danny Miller reviews the film for Cinephiled here.

PingPongSummerOn Blu-ray and DVD with two commentary tracks (one by director Neil Burger, one by producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher) and deleted scenes, plus an UltraViolet digital copy of the film. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are two featurettes, “Bringing Divergent to Life” and “Faction Before Blood,” plus bonus a DVD.

Ping Pong Summer (Millennium, Blu-ray, DVD) is an underdog sports movie set in the heart of the eighties. Marcello Conte is Rad Miracle, an odd name even for the era, a socially awkward adolescent with a love of ping pong and Michael Jackson who finds himself taking on the snotty rich kid of his little beach town. It’s in the Karate Kid mode with Susan Sarandon as his Miyagi, a flinty, reclusive neighbor with the way-cool name Randi Jammer. Amy Sedaris, Lea Thompson and John Hannah co-star. With commentary by director Michael Tully and co-producer George Rush and a featurette. You can browse the reviews here.

Also new and notable:  NeedSpeed

Need for Speed (Buena Vista, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD, VOD), the road-racing action picture starring Aaron Paul (fresh off Breaking Bad) as a wronged racer out for revenge against a cheating rival (Dominic Cooper), was reviewed by Jeff Michael Vice for Cinephiled. “Stuntman-turned-filmmaker Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) was a good choice of director, in terms of the action scenes, at least,” he wronte back in March. “But he’s not able to do much with the idiotic script…. Along with needless, ludicrous subplots, it’s got even-sillier dialogue and practically nonsensical characterizations.”

God’s Not Dead (Pure Flix Entertainment, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD) is the latest Christian film about the power of faith to find an eager audience at the multiplexes. Kevin Sorbo (as the bullying atheist) and Shane Harper (as the inspiring believer) star.

In the vein of horror is Oculus (Fox, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD), about two siblings (Karen Gillan and Brendon Thwaites) and a haunted mirror, and Anna (Vertical, DVD), the first American film from Spanish director Jorge Dorado, starring Mark Strong and Taissa Farmiga. It was originally titled Mindgame, which is a better description of the thriller.

From France arrives Christophe Honoré’s romantic drama Man at Bath (Canteen Outlaws, DVD) with François Sagat, Omar Ben Sellem and Chiara Mastroianni, and the theater comedy Bicycling with Moliere (Strand, DVD) with Fabrice Luchini, Lambert Wilson and Maya Sansa.

Digital / VOD / Streaming exclusives:

palo_altoPalo Alto (Cable VOD), the indie drama based on the short stories of James Franco (who co-stars) and directed by Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford), comes to Cable On Demand a month before its disc release.

On Friday, August 8, the drama About Alex (Cable VOD) with Aubrey Plaza and Jason Ritter comes to Cable On Demand same day it premieres in theaters.

Also available this week, same day as disc, are Divergent, God’s Not Dead, Need For Speed, and Oculus. See above for details.

You can buy a digital copy of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Sony, Digital HD) before it’s released on Blu-ray and DVD, and the new restoration of William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (Warner, Digital HD) is also now available for digital purchase. Also new: the horror film The Quiet Ones (Lionsgate, Digital) and the indie drama Coherence (Oscilloscope, Digital, VOD).

Nymphomaniac: Volume I and Nymphomaniac: Volume II are both available to stream on Netflix as of Thursday, August 7.

More releases:AroundBlock

Around the Block (Gaiam, DVD)
12 O’clock Boys (Oscilloscope, DVD)
In Between Songs (Cinema Libre, DVD)
More than the Rainbow (First Run, DVD)
Dream Deceivers (First Run, DVD)
Modern Life (First Run, DVD)
Ironclad: Battle for Blood (XLrator, Blu-ray, DVD)
Community Service (eOne, DVD)
I’ll Follow You Down (Well Go, Blu-ray, DVD)
Getting Go, The Go Doc Project (Wolfe, DVD, Digital)

TV on disc:CommunityS5cap

Community: The Complete Fifth Season (Sony, DVD)
The Trip to Bountiful (2014) (Lionsgate, DVD)
Ja’mie: Private School Girl (HBO, DVD, Digital HD)
The Saint: Set 1 (Acorn, DVD)
Poirot: Fan Favorites Collection (Acorn, DVD)
Marple: Fan Favorites Collection (Acorn, DVD)
Last Tango in Halifax: Season Two (BBC, DVD)
The Broker’s Man: Series 2 (Acorn, DVD)
The Birthday Boys: The Complete First Season (Anchor Bay, DVD)
Perry Mason Movie Collection: Volume 3 (Paramount, DVD)
Awkward: Season Three (Paramount, DVD)
Transformers Cybertron: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, DVD)
Top Gear 21 (BBC, DVD)
America’s Wild West (PBS, DVD)
Italy’s Mystery Mountains (PBS, DVD)

Classics and Cult:PhantomParadisecap

Phantom of the Paradise: Collector’s Edition (Shout Factory, Blu-ray)
Without Warning (Scream Factory, Blu-ray+DVD Combo)
The Man Who Knew Too Little (Warner, Blu-ray)
The Full Monty (Fox, Blu-ray)
Green Ice (Scorpion / Kino Lorber, DVD)
Grizzly (Scorpion / Kino Lorber, DVD)
Sorcerer (Warner, DVD, Digital HD)

Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD

And don’t miss the news: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is getting supersized in an even longer edition slated for disc in November. The announcement is here.