It is a very good week for new Blu-ray/4K releases. There are tons of cool stuff to choose from but I had to go with a bit of a nostalgic choice. I have very fond memories of watching those classic Charlie Brown specials when I was a kid and this new boxed set includes 40 different specials/movies, most of which I haven’t seen but I’d love to dig into them.
You can read all about it and more by clicking here.
I guess due to the Fourth of July celebrations, there aren’t a whole lot of discs coming out this week. My favorite is a new UHD transfer of this great film noir from Criterion, but I also talk about Death of a Unicorn, Alexander, and Warfare. You can read it all over at Cinema Sentries.
I’ve been writing this column (or something similar) off and on now for well over a decade. It has been interesting to see home video move from DVD to Blu-ray to 4K UHD and then struggle with the advent of streaming video.
I’d like to say this has gained me some secret knowledge as to how the companies that produce home video decide how and when to release things, but it really hasn’t. Other than things pick up in the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas period, and slow way the heck down in the weeks following Christmas, I have no insight into what any of these companies are doing. And last year, even that simple insight failed as there wasn’t as big of a push just before Christmas, and we got some amazing releases during the normal winter doldrums.
Streaming was a game-changer. The truth is, most people are happy to watch Netflix or Hulu or whatever and no longer have the need to buy physical media. What’s left are collectors. People who desire the physical media, who want something to put on their shelves. Collectors are a strange breed (I count myself as one of them.) We are willing to spend inordinate amounts of money on something we could easily watch for free.
Lots of amazing Boutique Labels have sprung up to meet our needs. Companies like Arrow Video, Kino Lorber, and Severin are now putting out fantastic sets of all sorts of films, both popular and obscure.
I still don’t know the ins and outs of what they decide to release and when. But we now have more options than ever before.
That’s a long-winded way of saying this is an incredible week for physical releases.
There are a lot of films to talk about. We’ll start with my favorite. Sorcerer is a loose remake of the classic French thriller Wages of Fear (1953). Directed by William Friedkin, it follows four misfits from around the globe (including Roy Scheider and Bruno Cramer) who are tasked with transporting some highly unstable dynamite across the vast South American jungle.
It is one of the most intense films ever made, with our heroes driving these big trucks across terrible terrain, never knowing if a turn or a bump in the road will cause them to explode.
The Criterion Collection is releasing it with a new 4K UHD transfer and loads of nice extras.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
A Minecraft Movie 4K UHD: I’ve never played Minecraft, but my daughter loves it. Actually, what she really loves is watching hardcore Minecrafters play the game on YouTube. When this film came out, she and her friends went to see it opening weekend. They loved it. I think they loved it ironically, but she’s a teenager, and it is hard to tell. She made me watch it the other night, and it’s not terrible. I mean, it is a movie based on a game in which you basically just build stuff, and I’ve grown increasingly tired of Jack Black’s schtick, but Jason Momoa is a lot of fun playing against type.
Lethal Weapon 4K UHD: One of the great action flicks from the 1980s gets a UHD upgrade.
Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection: The original Doctor Who series was an immediate success upon its launch in 1963. The Daleks were introduced in only its second story, and they became a sensation. So much so that in 1965, a full-fledged Technicolor movie was commissioned starring Peter Cushing as The Doctor. Doctor Who and the Daleks pretty much follows the original Dalek story with some minor changes. A year later, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD was made, this one following yet another Dalek story from the TV.
They are oddities, and not necessary viewings, even for fans, but I quite like them. Severin Films is releasing them both in a boxed set, giving them a 4K upgrade with loads of extras.
Doctor Who: Season One: When Disney acquired the rights to Doctor Who for some stupid reason, they reverted the season numbers back to One. I have to admit I didn’t love this season, it felt a little too juvenile, and…well, Disneyfied, but I own all the others, so this will definitely be a pick-up by me.
Dark City 4K UHD: I don’t remember liking this dark science fiction noir when it first came out, but people I respect seem to really like it so I need to give it a revisit. Arrow Video is giving it a nice upgrade.
The Monkey 4K UHD: This loosely based on a Stephen King short story horror flick from Osgood Perkins is light on story and heavy on complicated deaths (and fun). You can read my full review here.
Novocaine 4K UHD: This rather silly action film has an interesting premise – its hero cannot feel pain. He isn’t indestructible. He still bleeds, burns, and can break bones; he just can’t feel any of that happening to him. The film takes this premise to pretty ridiculous (and ridiculously fun) extremes, but I enjoyed it.
Palindromes 4K UHD: Todd Solondz makes difficult films full of terrible characters that you somehow still manage to empathise with. I’ve not seen this film, but Radiance Films appears to have done their usual remarkable job with this release.
The Invisible Swordsman 4K UHD: Arrow Video presents this Japanese film about an awkward Edo-era swordsman who meets a spirit who says he can help him avenge his father’s death (by turning him invisible, of course).
The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost: Radiance Films is releasing this Japanese tale about a Samurai trying to win his wife back, and supernatural vengeance.
The wife and I are big fans of cozy murder mysteries. There is just something nice about sitting down after a long day and watching interesting people solve a murder. I never watched Murder, She Wrote when it originally aired, but we’ve recently started watching it, and I just love it. I think that officially makes me an old man now.
You can read about it and all the other interesting releases coming out this week here.
I’m on record as being a pretty big fan of the Japanese horror boom of the early 2000s, collectively known as J-Horror. I’ve written about several of those films and weirdly seem to explain exactly what J-Horror is in each of them (so to learn more, just click this link and read one of them). While I am a fan, I haven’t really delved deeply into the genre, and most have only seen the bigger names.
This set from Arrow Video looks like a fun way to dig a little deeper. I’ve only actually seen one of these films, Noroi: The Curse, which is also the only one I’ve ever heard of. But with titles like Isola: Multiple Personality Girl and Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman, how can I not be excited by it? Arrow presents these seven films in a nice-looking box and has filled them with loads of extras.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Drop 4K UHD: This thriller has a fun premise – a single mom on her first date in years begins receiving increasingly threatening phone messages with terrible demands.
The Return of the Living Dead 4K UHD: This ridiculously silly and ridiculously fun zombie flick from 1985 gets the UHD treatment from Shout Factory.
The Wiz 4K UHD: This modern update of The Wizard of Oz has an all black cast and some super fun musical numbers. Criterion has the release.
The Wedding Banquet: Romantic comedy about a gay Taiwanese-American who agrees to marry a straight Chinese girl for her to get a green card. I’ve not heard of this before, but it’s got Lily Gladstone in a supporting role, and I’ll watch her in anything.
Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf: Spanish director/actor Paul Naschy made several films with him, starring as a werewolf. I’ve seen a couple of them and thoroughly enjoyed them. Adding a Dr. Jekyll twist to this sounds really fun.
Lord of Illusions: Scott Bakula stars in this Clive Barker film about a private detective trying to protect his client from a deadly cult. I didn’t much care for this when it first came out, but I’ve been meaning to give it a rewatch.
Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection 4K UHD: There have been so many different releases of these films, it is hard to keep up, but if you are looking for a cheapish collection of just Sean Connery playing Bond then this is for you.
It is a pretty good week for new releases, including this fantastic-looking Paul Schraeder film getting a 4K upgrade from Criterion. But there is also a new Classic Doctor Who season, my favorite Terry Gilliam, and a gritty 1970s drama from Sam Peckinpah. You can read all about it here.
I’m obviously a big fan of Doctor Who. There are lots of old, Classic episodes still missing (the original tapes were erased by the BBC to save money). Some of those missing episodes still have existing audio but no video. Sometimes they’ll take that audio and animate the video so we have something to watch.
They recently did that with a William Hartnell story called The Savages, and I’ve made it this week’s pick.
There’s also a new Soderberg, a big boxed set of Blaxploitation, and much more coming out this week. Click here to read more.
There aren’t any major new releases this week. Mostly it is 4K UHD upgrades of things that have been previously released on Blu-ray. Criterion has two releases including my pick the classic In the Heat of the Night and the french musical Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
There’s also a boxed set of Star Trek movies, a cool looking double-pack of silent films and a few other things, all of which you can read about over at Cinema Sentries.
Typically, I choose but one film or boxed set as my pick of the week. But every now and again, I simply can’t choose just one film, and I have to go with multiple picks. This week, three Clint Eastwood classics are getting UHD upgrades with nice-looking Steelbook cases, and I want them all.
Clint Eastwood is one of the great actors and directors out there. He’s been consistently making good films for sixty years, and he doesn’t seem to be willing to stop.
The three films – Dirty Harry (1971), Pale Rider (1985), and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) aren’t necessarily the very best of Clint Eastwood but they are all good films in their way (if I’m being honest I’ve not seen either of them in a long while so I don’t have anything intelligent to say about them at the moment) and they will make a nice addition to anyones collection.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Anora 4K UHD: This Oscar-winning film from last year is about a sex worker who marries an Oligarch and then faces the consequences when her husband’s family finds out.
Paddington in Peru: I’ve not seen any of the Paddington films but everyone says they are delightful.
Star Trek: Section 31: Michelle Yeoh stars in this Star Trek film about a secret division of Starfleet tasked to protect the United Federation of planets, but she must also learn to deal with some dark secrets. The reviews have been savage.
V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal: Arrow Video presents this collection of straight-to-video films from Japan. You can read my review here.
Murderrock 4K UHD: Vinegar Syndrome presents this ridiculously silly, gory, and surprisingly beautiful Giallo of Lucio Fulci in UHD. You can read my review of the movie here.
My admission with this week’s pick is that I’ve never been a huge fan of Tombstone. I remember when it came out all of my friends just loved it. They constantly quoted it. I was late to watching it and I remember when I finally caught up with it I thought to myself, “this is it?” I’ve seen it a couple of times since then and it has grown on me.
Val Kilmer gives a terrific performance and there is some good stuff in their. I think it was a case of it being hyped so much that it just couldn’t be as good as it had been built up to me in my mind.
I do think it is about time for me to try it again, and this nice looking disc might be the way to do it. You can read all of my thoughts here.
themidnightcafe.org 