Video

Comic duo bring on ‘The Heat’

In “The Heat,” Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy play mismatched law enforcement officers who bicker and bumble their way into solving a crime and finding a friend. The conceit of the film, written by Katie Dippold and directed by Paul Feig, is that for all their differences they share an essential loneliness that has kept them isolated and miserable. That sad subtext gives much of the humor in “The Heat” a melancholy edge.

Seen through one lens, “The Heat” is the product of a cheering trend in female-centered comedies, a feminist sister to “Bridesmaids.” Seen through another, it revolves around the retrograde novelty of watching women swagger, spout vulgarities, brandish guns and toss around anatomical references.

The DVD and Blu-ray (Fox, $30-$40) include commentary by McCarthy, Feig and the original “Mystery Science Theater 3000” critics; deleted scenes, and an unrated version.

Washington Post

Kristin Tillotson says: From the moment Melissa McCarthy barrels onto the scene like a cannonball of crudity, she makes it clear that the movie is hers to make or break. And she knocks it right out of the park.

 

Also out Tuesday

Movies: “The Colony,” “Dirty Wars,” “Embrace of the Vampire” (2013), “A Hijacking,” “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” “Maniac,” “Pacific Rim,” “Shrek the Musical.”

TV: “Defiance” (Season 1), “The Fall” (Series 1), “Hart of Dixie” (Season 2), “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (Season 5), “Untold History of the United States,” “Vikings” (Season 1).

Blu-ray: “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Eyes Without a Face,” “The Haunting” (1963), “High Plains Drifter,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” “Slap Shot,” “Weird Science.”

 

Gadget

Update retro gear

The Belkin HD Bluetooth Music Receiver ($60, www.belkin.com) brings together your old system with any device having Bluetooth technology.

Simply plug the HD receiver into your existing system with the included cables, and pair the receiver with your Bluetooth device with a simple tap of device to receiver. Use your handheld media player to send any stored audio files to the existing speaker systems.

McClatchy News Service

 

Web

Yahoo puts ‘limits’ on e-mail

In a confusing marketing tactic, Yahoo is reducing the amount of free storage it gives users of its e-mail service from “unlimited” to 1 terabyte.

The company said that no user of the free version of Yahoo Mail has ever filled up 1 terabyte of space. And if someone does, the company promises to make changes necessary to accommodate the user. One terabyte is equal to 1,024 gigabytes.

Why is Yahoo making this confusing change? Marketing.

The company wants to be able to boast about how much free storage space Yahoo Mail offers compared with other services, such as Google’s Gmail and Microsoft’s Outlook.com. Gmail, for example, offers 15 gigabytes of free storage, which is shared with other Google services, while Outlook.com comes with 7 gigabytes of free storage.

Los Angeles Times