It is both an amazing time to be a physical media collector and a frustrating one. Amazing because there is so much incredible stuff being put out nearly every week. Frustrating because it is sometimes difficult to know which release is worth your money. I don’t really understand all the intricacies of how it all works, but sometimes a film will be released on Blu-ray by multiple companies within a relatively short period of time.
This is especially true of older movies (and we won’t even talk about movies that have gone into the public domain). It is difficult to figure out which release is the best one.
Take this week’s Pick. Columbia Pictures is releasing six films (and one television series) in this nice-looking boxed set, all in 4K. They are mostly very good movies (His Girl Friday, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Kramer Vs Kramer, Starman – and a Starman series – Sleepless in Seattle, and Punch Drunk Love.) But they’ve all previously been released, some of them by Criterion. But I don’t believe any of them have come to 4K.
So, do you double dip? Do we need to buy this boxed set? The price isn’t bad, all things considered. It comes down to about $30 per movie, not counting the TV series. But what if you already own one or two movies. Is it still worth it?
I don’t have answers to any of that. I wish there was a better website that would really break down what releases each movie has received and what the specs were.
Maybe that’s a weird way to make a set my Pick of the Week, I dunno. But it is a nice-looking set and that’s enough. I guess.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
The Marvels: I’ve really given up on the MCU. A couple of years ago this is a film I would have seen in the theater pretty close to opening weekend. Now I can’t even be bothered to watch it at home. At this point, it just feels like you have to do homework before watching anything. I shouldn’t have to watch a movie and a television series just to understand what is happening in this film. Still, I’ll probably watch it sooner or later.
Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons: Over the course of the 1990s the celebrated French director made four films about the four seasons where love was in the air. Criterion has bundled them together with their usual care.
The Shaolin Plot: Arrow Video once again brings a Shaw Brothers “classic” to home video. This one involves a sinister master being confronted by his student.
Hypnotic: Ben Affleck stars in this mystery about a man looking for his missing daughter and finding a secret government plot.
Priscilla: Sofia Coppola directed this interesting biopic of Elvis Pressley’s wife.
The Hunger Games: Ballas of Songbirds and Snakes: I’ve not read any of the Hunger Games books and the only movie I’ve seen is the second one (my dad wanted to go). I have absolutely no interest in this franchise, but obviously some people do.
Footloose (40th Anniversary Edition): I finally watched this 1980s classic last year. As you can read in my review, I didn’t love it, but I did have a lot of fun watching it. This edition comes in a cool-looking Steelbook and is loaded with extras.
Willy’s Wonderland: Nicolas Cage has been in a lot of terrible movies. Sometimes it seems like he will take any old role offered to him. Sometimes that’s actually true as according to him, he did get into some financial trouble over some bad real estate deals and had to work in order to pay them off. I don’t know if that is the case with this movie, but the reviews have been bad. He plays a drifter who gets trapped inside an arcade with murderous animatronics. Apparently, he doesn’t have a single line of dialogue which seems crazy all things considered.
themidnightcafe.org 
I have seen a couple of Eric Rohmer’s films, and i really liked them.
I’ve not seen any of them, but since this is Foreign Film February I should probably remedy that. )
Yes i think you should, the two i have seen i can’t remember the titles without going on IMDB, however both were quite light and charming films.