Category: DVD Pick of the Week

Salem’s Lot Is the Pick of the Week

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Last year a bare-bones DVD release of Tobe Hooper’s terrific TV movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot hit the streets (I reviewed it here.) It was an odd release, as we live in the time of 4K UHD, so it’s confusing as to who would want a DVD with absolutely no extras. Especially since there was already a nice Blu-ray release of the film with plenty of extras selling cheaply on Amazon. But I guess there are still folk who just have DVD players and aren’t looking for extras. 

At any rate, Arrow Video is now releasing the film in UHD with loads of extras. I’ve got a soft spot for the film (I also reviewed it just for my blog, which you can read here). Despite its being made-for-TV in the 1970s, it is surprisingly effective and genuinely creepy. Now I’m glad I didn’t buy that Blu-ray because this is a much better upgrade.

Also coming out this week that looks interesting:

Marty Supreme: I have to admit I’ve never seen a film by either of the Safdie Brothers. They are directors I keep hearing good things about, and there is no reason for me not to see their films; I just haven’t.  This one stars Timothy Chamelet as a guy who dreams of being a ping pong star and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

The Blade: Criterion presents this Japanese film about a blade manufacturer who quits his job and looks for revenge.

Eiichi Kudo’s Samurai Revolution Trilogy: Modern takes on the samurai film that push back the classic noble samurai idea and show how corrupt the systems really were. 

Lupin the 3rd: Specials Collection 1: Lupin III is a Japanese character who is supposed to be the grandson of the great fictional thief Arsene Lupin. There have been lots of movies, shows, comics, etc. based on the character. This package delivers five TV movies inducing: Bye Bye Lady Liberty, The Hemingway Papers, Napoleon’s Dictionary, From Siberia with Love, and Voyage to Danger

Greenland 2: Migration: I didn’t know there was a Greenland 1. This one sends the Garrity family out of the safety of their bunker and across the barren landscape.

A Man and a Woman: Criterion presents this classic French film from Claude Lelouch about a race car driver’s romance with a script girl.

Tea and Sympathy: Beautifully drawn drama about a gay-coded young man (John Kerry) and the bullying he receives at a prep school for not being manly enough. Deborah Kerr plays the only woman who seems to understand. You can read my full review here.

She Killed in Ecstasy: Jess Franco directs this exploitation classic about a woman seeking revenge on the people who forced her husband into suicide.  

Killers of the Flower Moon is the Pick of the Week

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Criterion is having a 50% off flash sale as I write this. I had some discounts for their site due to me being a member of the Criterion Channel.  I just picked up a 4K UHD copy of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon for $5.

That’s not the reason it is this week’s pick, but it’s still pretty cool. You can read all about why I picked it and what else is coming out today over at Cinema Sentries. You can read my review of the film right here.

The Housemaid is the Pick of the Week

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Whenever I write these posts, I tend to think about my pick in two ways.  First, if I had unlimited funds, which new release would I buy? And second, which film am I really interested in watching, that I haven’t seen? Normally, that first part trumps everything. This is a series about physical releases after all, so my pick should be about which physical release looks the coolest.

But sometimes there isn’t anything coming out that looks all that interesting in terms of its packaging or extras, and I move to that second tier. If I can’t pick something that thrills me with its packaging, then I can at least pick something I really want to see. 

Once in a blue moon I have to go to a third tier. When there aren’t any special releases and none of the movies are calling out to me as something I have to watch, I just kind of pick something and hope for the best. 

It is in these moments I tend to think about what might bring the most readership.  What is the most popular thing coming out that might get folks to read my thoughts?  

Which brings us to this week’s pick.

The Housemaid is a film that keeps showing up in my feeds. It stars Sydney Sweeney, who I’ve quite liked as an actress in the few films I’ve seen her in, but who has become rather controversial of late, and Amanda Seyfried, who was beloved for many years until her personal life imploded. She’s made a bit of a comeback of late. 

Anyway, Sweeney plays a woman down on her luck who gets a gig as a housemaid for Amanda Seyfried’s character. But as these things turn out, Seyfried and her husband have a past, and things get dark and scary and other stuff. It was directed by Paul Feig, so I’m guessing things don’t get that dark. I’ve heard mostly good things about it, especially Seyfried’s performance, and this week that is enough to make it my pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

The Big Risk: Criterion brings us this French thriller. It stars the always great Lino Ventura as a man who’s been hiding out in Milan for the better part of a decade, but decides to bring his family back to Paris despite the fact that he has a death sentence hanging over him. He is accompanied by his appointed guardian (the always great Jean Paul Belmondo.) I’d never heard of this film before, but that sounds great.

Mimic: Kino Lorber is bringing this rather silly, bug-infested horror movie from Guillermo Del Toro (you can read my review of the film here.)

Anaconda: Sometimes Hollywood’s obsession with remakes and the like gets really silly. Anaconda (1997) was an unintentionally hilarious action/horror film starring Ice Cube and a giant, CGI snake. It was the kind of film people loved to hate on. Or that the MST3K guys could have a ball with. They remade it last year with Jack Black and Paul Rudd, but this time they are in on the joke. Hilarity is supposed to ensue, but the reviews have been bad.

Zodiac Killer Project: Charlie Shackleton was trying to make a documentary on the infamous Zodiac Killer, but the project fell through way before it was completed. But being a big fan of true crime shows, he decided to point his camera inward and make a film about true crime and how that genre bends our perception and why we are all obsessed with serial killers.

Is This Thing On:  Bradley Cooper directs Will Arnett as a stand-up comic having to come to terms with how his life is falling apart.

Dead Again: Kenneth Branagh directed this film and stars as a private detective who meets an amnesiac woman (Emma Thompson) whose life intersected with his in a previous incarnation.  You can read my review here.

We Bury the Dead: Daisy Ridley stars in this drama about a woman looking for her husband after a terrible military incident, but as she looks for his body amongst many other thousands, she finds that some of them seem to be coming back to life.

Good Boy: This horror film takes the dog’s point of view as his master is overcome by supernatural forces. You can read my review here.

The Boy and the Beast: Japanese animated film about a boy who enters a world of strange beasts.

Testament: Criterion presents this drama about the life of a family after a nuclear attack.

Hamnet is the Pick of the Week

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I watched The Rider at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa. That’s our cool little arthouse theater. They show all kinds of films – new independent films, silent films, classic noirs, and midnight movies. I love the place. I caught The Rider because my family was out of town and I wanted something to do. I don’t think I knew much about it at the time but was knocked out by it.

It was directed by Chloe Zhao, and she immediately became someone to watch. Her next film was Nomadland, and it is really great as well. Then she made The Eternals, a Marvel movie that is hated by just about everyone. One assumes she did it because she got paid well and that money will help finance future films, but who knows? I didn’t see it.

Her latest film is Hamnet, a film about William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, as they deal with the loss of their young son, whose name is the movie’s title. That grief is generally said to have motivated Shakespeare to write Hamlet, perhaps his greatest play. 

The reviews for the film have been very good and it is up for an Oscar next week.  I missed it in the theater but I’m excited to watch it now and happy to make it my pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Piranha: Joe Dante directed this low budget thriller about some government-modified piranhas that accidentally escape and attack a summer camp. It is a film that used to air on cable TV back in my day, and I’m sure I watched at least parts of it multiple times, though I’d be hard pressed to tell you anything about it. Shout Factory is giving it the Steelbook anniversary treatment.

Cobra Kai: The Complete Series: I’ve not watched any of this series that brings back many of the characters from the Karate Kid films, but I know a lot of folks that love it.

The Swordsman Trilogy: Trio of wuxia films is getting a boxed set from Shout Factory.

Chainsaw Man: My daughter has been getting into manga over the last few years. One day I saw this book in the store and jokingly recommended it to her. Because what could be cooler than a dude with chainsaw hands? She didn’t want the book but has since seen some of the series. Now there is a film. It is about a kid who makes a deal with a demon and gets those crazy hands.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 3: My wife and I started season one of this series, but have yet to finish it. I like it, but we got distracted. It follows Captain Pike, who helmed the Enterprise before Kirk took over.

The Running Man: Oh, I wanted this to be really good. Edgar Wright directing a Stephen King book should have been awesome.  Instead it was just okay.  Glen Powell stars as a man who signs up for a game show in a terrible future where he has to survive for several days without being caught. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed. If he survives, his family will get some much-needed money.

Zootopia 2: The first film was a fun little romp about talking animals trying to solve a crime. This time around more animals will try to solve a different case.

Excalibur is the Pick of the Week

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I write a pick of the week almost every week. Beyond the actual pick I talk about at least two or three other interesting releases, often talking about many more.  It is actually quite rare for me to buy any of the things I talk about. I just don’t have the money. 

While writing this week’s pick, I actually talked myself into purchasing it. I don’t even like Excalibur all that much. But it is stunningly beautiful, and weird, and I dig that. And this set of it by Arrow is pretty awesome.  You can read all about it and more over at Cinema Sentries.

Predator: Badlands is the Pick of the Week

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It is kind of amazing to me that the Predator franchise is still a thing. Not only that, but the last couple of films have been some of the best in the entire series. Predator: Badlands might just be my very favorite of all of them. It was definitely one of my favorite films of last year, and you can read all about that here.

It is getting a variety of releases in different formats and covers (plus it is now streaming on Hulu, but I guess I shouldn’t talk about that in a post covering physical releases).  And now it is my pick of the week.

Here’s what else is coming out this week that struck my fancy:

Ben-Hur: William Wyler’s biblical epic took home a whopping 11 Oscars in 1959, and now it is getting the UHD treatment. It has been a long time since I watched this, but now I’m itching to see it again in HD glory.

Song Sung Blue: Loosely based on a true story, this film follows a married couple who form a Neil Diamond cover act and see both success and failures along the way.

Rental Family: Brendan Fraser stars in this drama about an American living in Japan who is hired as a token American for a rental-family company.

All the President’s Men: Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as the real-life Woodward and Bernstein, the reporters who helped uncover the Watergate Scandal and bring the Nixon presidency down. A great film in every way, and this UHD upgrade is getting good reviews.

Dexter: Resurrection: The Complete First Season: I think I watched the first season of the original Dexter, and I’ve not really paid it much attention after that. But I know it has fans.

Cloud: Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of my favorite modern Japanese directors. His latest features a guy who gets into the resale business, but his carelessness puts him in harm’s way. That’s a terrible description, but the film is great.

The Visitor: This absolutely insane film is about an intergalactic warrior who joins a Christ-like figure to battle a demonic eight-year-old.  Arrow has the release.

Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals: I’ve only seen a couple of Ernst Lubitsch movies, and none of them have been musicals, but all of them have been enjoyable.  He’s one of those directors who is beloved by a lot of people I like, but I’ve never truly dug into him.  Maybe now is the time to start.  The films include The Love Parade, Monte Carlo, The Smiling Lieutenant, One Hour With You.

Spencer Tracy 4-Film Collection: I’ll have a review of this up soon. The films include Bad Day at Black Rock, Fury, Northwest Passage, and Libeled Lady.

Exorcismo: Defying a Dictator & Raising Hell in Post-Franco Spain is the Pick of the Week

During Franco’s reign of Spain from 1939 to 1975, the government controlled all forms of artistic expression. After his death, movies once again began to express themselves as their creators desired. Artistic expression was political freedom. These films, which were suddenly able to explore sexuality, violence, and horror in ways that had been censored for decades, became a kind of cultural exorcism.

Severin Films is now releasing 19 of those films in a boxed set they are calling Exorcismo: Defying a Dictator & Raising Hell in Post-Franco Spain. I’ve not heard of any of these films, and my film knowledge is severely lacking in all Spanish cinema, but this sounds like a marvelous place to start. I’m happy to make this set my pick of the week.

Also out that looks interesting:

Keeper: Osgood Perkins’ latest has gotten very mixed reviews, but I always find his films at least interesting. Tatiana Maslany stars as a woman left alone in an isolated cabin only to discover an unspeakable evil.

3:10 to Yuma: Criterion is giving this classic western starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin about a mild-mannered rancher who is tasked with shepherding an outlaw back to prison the UHD treatment.

Friday the 13th (2009): Arrow Video is giving this terrible remake their special treatment.