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.
Wong Kar-wai is one of those directors who is beloved by cinephiles (the Criterion Collection gave him an entire boxed set a few years ago) but who I’ve not really given his due. I’ve only seen three of his films. I loved two of them – Fallen Angels and Chungking Express, and was indifferent about the third – My Blueberry Nights. To be fair that last one was most people were indifferent about. I watched it because it starred Norah Jones whom I love. At the time I had no idea who Wong Kar-wai was.
But Chungking Express is fantastic. It explores the interconnected relationships between four random people living in a city of some seven million people. It has style to spare and loads of heart.
Criterion is giving it a 4K upgrade and I’m making it my pick of the week. With an asterix. That boxed set still looks really great, and I’m not sure this would be worth the upgrade if you already own it. I don’t but I’ll still probably save my money and buy it someday rather than this upgrade.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Batman Ninja Vs Yakuza League: I love me some alternative Batman stories. There have been a few movies with Batman as a ninja and this one turns the Justice League into Yakuzas.
Sands of Iwo Jima 4K UHD: I’ve never seen any of the John Wayne WWII movies. I’ve always heard they were pretty bad, but I’d still like to give them a shot as I love his westerns.
Donovan’s Reef 4K UHD: This John Wayne films reminds me a bit of Hatari! in that it isn’t a western, it is set in an exotic location and its pretty light on plot but heavy on charm. It helps that it also stars Lee Marvin and the two of them are living happy bachelor lives in the South Seas until a pretty girl from Boston shows up.
The Good German 4K UHD: This Steven Soderberg take on Casablanca got terrible reviews when it came out but time seems to have improved people’s takes on it. I’m a big fan of the director but never got around to it, so now seems like the perfect opportunity.
The Eel: Radiance Films presents this Japanese film about a man who kills his wife when he finds her sleeping with another man. After a prison stint he returns home and tries to live a normal life. Complications ensue.
Heart Eyes: Modern slasher about a Valentine’s Day killer.
King of New York 4K UHD: Christopher Walken stars in this crime saga from Abel Ferrara. I watched it ages ago and wasn’t impressed but a lot of people I like like it so I may have to give it another go.
It is a nice week in new releases. There is a very cool looking set of French thrillers from Radiance Films, a new Film Noir boxed set from Kino Lorber (I’ll have that review ready later this week) a ridiculous 1980s slasher in UHD, a very fun Gena Davis/Samuel L. Jackson thriller and of course one of the funniest movies ever made gettting the HD Criterion treatment.. Click here to see all the info you need.
People keep asking me what I thought of A Complete Unknown. I love movies. I’m a huge fan of Bob Dylan. It seems like a no-brainer of a question. Trouble is I still haven’t seen the film.
Truth is I just don’t care for biopics, especially ones that cover ground I’m already familiar with. I’m quite familiar with this part of Bob Dylan’s life, I don’t need to see a fictionalized version of it.
I’m sure I’ll watch it at some point. It got good reviews and Edward Norton’s portrayal of Pete Seeger was highly praised. But I’m in no hurry about it. I suppose now that it is getting a Blu-ray release I may find time for it.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Companion: This robotic companion goes murderously haywire horror film stars Sophie Thatcher who I’ve been enjoying on Yellowjackets.
Mufasa: The Lion King: Normally I wouldn’t bother mentioning these dumb Disney “live-action” remake/reboot/rewhatevers of classic films. But this one was directed by Barry Jenkins so it is probably worth a look.
Love Hurts: Ke Huy Quan stars in this dude with a shady past is pulled back into it action/drama. The reviews have been terrible, but I love Ke Huy Quan so I’ll give it a look.
Mabuse Lives!: Fritz Lang made a couple of Dr. Mabuse films in the early part of his career. Thirty years later he was asked to make a sequel. It was a success and so several more were made. Eureka Entertainment has boxed these late sequels all up. The films include: The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, The Return of Dr. Mabuse, The Invisible Dr. Mabuse, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse, and The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse.
Sometimes I debate what my pick of the week should be – should I choose something I haven’t seen but am really excited about, or should I choose something I already love getting a nice release?
On one hand, it makes sense that I would pick something that I’ve already seen. I know the movie is good and therefore I can stand by my recommendation. On the other hand, when a highly anticipated film makes its home video debut that’s exciting. Or it used to be. Maybe I’m coming from a time when home video releases were exciting. I’m old enough to remember when a movie hit the theater and if you missed it you had to wait until it came out on video. But I guess now they hit streaming services even earlier.
Whatever, I went with the more traditional pick this week. Night Moves is a terrific little 1970s noir, and Criterion is giving it the 4K treatment. But in case you were wondering, I thought pretty hard about picking The Brutalist, which I haven’t seen but has received rave reviews.
You can read all my thoughts on this week’s releases here.
I am slowly becoming something of a Godzilla superfan. I’ve always loved that giant, nuclear, lizard monster but I’ve always enjoyed him more or less randomly. I’m still pretty random in my viewing if I’m being honest, but I’m now paying attention to the different versions and eras of the famed beast.
Godzilla vs Biollante is the second film in what is commonly called the Heisei Period of Godzilla films. That’s a sort of reboot of the series in the 1980s. The effects work was updated from the original films and there was a new reliance on Godzilla being a terribly destructive force (at least at first, I think he becomes more friendly in later films).
This one features Godzilla fighting a genetically modified plant (imbued with Godzilla’s own DNA and some psychic powers from a girl). It is a bit of a mess but a lot of fun.
The Criterion Collection also seems fascinated by Godzilla and they’ve done their usual awesome-looking job with this disc.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Moana 2: I quite liked the original film. It had a good story, some great animation, and at least a couple of inescapable earworm songs from Lin Manuel Miranda. The sequel was a huge hit (making over a billion dollars at the box office) but for whatever reason I never got around to watching it. From what I can tell the story is basically the same (Moana has a big adventure on the sea, along for the ride is the demi-god Maui) but there is no Lin Manuel Miranda this time which is disappointing.
Wolfman (2025): Director Leigh Whannell previously helmed a really good adaptation of the old Invisible Man story so it seems like he’d be a great fit for a new wolfman adaptation. But the previews looked dumb and the reviews were bad. Still, I am a horror nerd and I love a good wolfman movie.
The Last of Us – The Complet First Season: A fantastic adaptation of a popular video game finds a man and a teenage girl trying to survive a world full of zombie-like creatures.
The Penguin – The Complete First Season: This series is a continuation of the film The Batman and follows Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) aka The Penguin as he tries to conquer Gotham.
Forbidden World 4K UHD: Shout Factory presents this Roger Corman-directed Alien rip-off that’s actually pretty good. You can read my Friday Night Horror Movie take on it here.
Deep Blue Sea 4K UHD: Arrow Video presents this silly-sounding film about some genetically mutated sharks that grew super intelligent and, you know, started killing people.
Thirst 4K UHD: Powerhouse Films brings us this 1970s horror film about a descendent of Elizabeth Bathory who is abducted by a blood cult.
My birthday is coming up and thus I’ve been making lists of things to give to my wife so that she might purchase me gifts. Whenever I have a little bit of spending money or a presents-for-me opportunity I always debate whether I’d like to get a bunch of smaller items or one big (and expensive) thing. Smaller things aren’t as individually exciting, but it is super fun receiving lots of different things. A single expensive item can be amazing, but then it’s all you get.
I still haven’t made my decision for this year’s birthday, and it won’t be this week’s pick (mainly because I’ve never seen any of the films) but I do love big boxed sets of relatively obscure films. Besides all the nonsense going on in the world I still find it magical that someone is releasing a set of goofy-looking horror films from Brazil and they are pulling out all the stops in terms of audio/video quality, extras, and packaging.
You can read all about this set and everything else coming out this week here.
The public library in Bloomington, Indiana is an amazing place. I lived near there for a time and I always loved visiting. It was larger than any public library I’d ever been to before and it was well stacked with all sorts of books. Even more impressive was their collection of movies and music. Rumor had it that they had purchased all the movies some local video rental store had when that store went out of business. That must have been some cool rental store as the movies the library had were awesome.
They had foreign films, arthouse films, lots of cool British TV, and a solid collection from Criterion before I even knew what the Criterion Collection was. I became a true cinephile in that library and I’m forever grateful for it.
One of the movies I borrowed from there was Wages of Fear. I’m embarrassed to say that I did not finish it the first time I borrowed it. The film is one of the tensest films ever made and I have to admit I found it boring. In my defense, it does take a while to get going. There is a long section in the beginning that introduces our characters and the setting and it is intentionally paced slow.
But once it gets going oh man does it ever get going. In some backwater South American town, four desperate men drive two trucks loaded with nitroglycerin across treacherous mountain roads. It is a suicide mission but the men have no other choice. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot fills every second of their journey with fear and tension.
It is a fantastic film and the Criterion is releasing it on 4K UHD. I can’t wait to see it.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Akira 4K UHD: One of the greatest animated movies ever made is getting the Ultra High-Def treatment from Crunchyroll.
Gladiator II 4K UHD: The original Gladiator film is a terrific bit of sword and sandal fun with some great action sequences and a fantastic performance from Russell Crowe. The sequel is a big fat dud. At least Denzel Washington appears to have had fun making it.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXIV: Everytime Kino Lorber puts out one of these sets I always think that they must surely be getting close to running out of films they can release and then they put out another one. This one has three films – Union Station / Jennifer / The Crooked Circle.
Play it Cool: Arrow Video is releasing this Japanese melodrama about the exploits of a Geisha.
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