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.
Thus far this year has been a knockout in terms of physical media releases. Usually, releases didn’t start getting good until about March as January and February were considered low months as everyone was still recovering from spending all that money on Christmas. But dang if every week this year hasn’t been a banger.
I haven’t watched Amadeus in a couple of decades but I remember loving it. And now you get the original version (there was a director’s cut released in 2002 pushing the original cut into obscurity) in glorious 4K UHD. Call that my pick of the week.
But we’ve got some Classic Doctor Who coming out this week, a couple of cool-looking Japanese films, two Criterion releases, and more. Click here to read my full rundown.
The first silent film I ever saw was Nosferatu (1922). I can’t remember how old I was but I wouldn’t have been more than about 14. I didn’t actually see all of it, just the last fifteen minutes or so, but I was knocked out by it. I normally ran away from the very thought of silent films (I wasn’t yet even hip to black and white movies) but something about Max Schreck in all that freaky makeup creeping up on that sleeping girl mesmerized me.
Last year I attempted to start a film club on Facebook. The idea was to take turns picking out movies for everyone to watch and then come back and discuss it at our leisure, through a FB post. The movie I chose was Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake of the film Nosferatu the Vampyre. I don’t know if my friends just didn’t like it or that a film club is a bad idea, but only one person responded to the movie. Personally, I love it.
Nosferatu, of course, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has been adapted dozens of times on screen, but there is something about Nosferatu that continues to fascinate.
Robert Eggers recently remade the film and I’m excited to finally get to see it. This new 4K UHD release contains an extended cut and lots of fun extras. I love Nosferatu in its many adaptations and I’m happy to make this new one my Pick of the Week.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Constantine 4k UHD 20th Anniversary Addition: This comic book adaptation starring Keanu Reeves met with a collective shrug from critics and audiences alike when it first came out but like so many things time has caused many to revisit it and its reputation has only grown. I first saw it on an airplane and thought it was awful, but I revisited it last year and found it to be quite enjoyable if not exactly a masterpiece.
Panic Room 4k UHD Steelbook: Another film that isn’t a masterpiece but is sturdily made, beautifully directed by David Fincher, and a ton of fun to watch. The transfer here was approved by Fincher and it’s got loads of cool-looking extras.
The Social Network 4K UHD: This was the first Blu-ray I ever bought. It was sort of accidental as the first time I watched the film I didn’t like it that much, but the Blu-ray was on sale for like two bucks so I laid my money down. I’ve since come to appreciate the film in a big way, especially now that Zuckerberg has proven himself even more of a monster than the film depicts.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim: Animated prequel to the Lord of the Rings movies. It takes its visual inspiration from Peter Jackson’s films. I think it was inspired by some of the other writings J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth, but it is mostly an original story. I’m not deeply steeped in that lore, but I do like those films (still haven’t seen the Hobbit films) so I’ll eventually get around to this.
Drugstore Cowboy: Criterion Collection presents this drug-fuelled road movie from Gus Van Zandt.
As per usual, I’m behind on posting these things. The trouble with posting the things I write on Cinema Sentries to this blog is that I write something over there, but it doesn’t get posted until the owner has a look at it and hits publish. Sometimes, he does that the same day, and other times, he waits a while, depending on when the thing I’m writing about comes out.
Once I’ve submitted it I tend to forget all about it. That’s not too big a deal with most things, but when I’m talking about this week’s new releases it’s a little silly to post it on the Saturday after the release date. Yet here we are.
It was a good release week but I chose a bit of childhood nostalgia for my pick. You can read all about it here.
I wonder if when Clint Eastwood finally sheds this mortal coil he’ll be more remembered as an actor or a director. He’s made plenty of great films as one or the other (and more than a few in which he directed himself). I’m not sure I’d be able to choose which one I enjoy the most. He’s had a long storied career, that’s for sure.
Reportedly Juror No. 2 is reportedly the 94-year-old director’s final film. It was well received by critics but sadly got an incredibly small theatrical release before being dumped on Max. It stars Nicolau Hoult as a juror on a high-profile murder case who realizes he has information he could use to sway the rest of the jury in either way he wants.
That’s all I know. That’s all I want to know. As I often say in these things I like going into movies cold, knowing very little about them. The buzz is that this is a very solidly constructed courtroom drama. The kind of thing they don’t make much of anymore. That’s good enough for me to make it this week’s pick.
Wicked: A movie based on a musical based on a book based on a movie. And they say Hollywood is out of ideas. Wicked reimagines the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West’s point of view, delving into her background and discovering why she became so wicked. It was originally a novel that was turned into a Broadway musical, and now it is a movie. I’ve not read the book, or seen the show, but my wife has treated me to some of the music, which is pretty good.
Werewolves: A supermoon turns millions of people into werewolves. Sounds fun.
Punch Drunk Love: Criterion is giving this wonderful PT Anderson film which proved Adam Sandler can actually act, the 4K UHD treatment.
The Sacrifice: Andrei Tarkovsky’s beautiful, meditative film gets the 4K UHD treatment from Kino Lorber. You can read my review of the Blu-ray here.
Oh, Canada: Richard Gere stars in director Paul Schrader’s latest drama about a draft dodger who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War. I’m a big fan of Schrader so I’m excited about this one.
Two Spaghetti Western Classics: Kill Them All and Come Back Alone / The Hellbenders: Kino Lorber brings these two Italian Westerns to the 4K UHD world.
I forgot to link over to Cinema Sentries for last week’s pick, you can read it here if you like.
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