Conclave is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

conclave blu

I follow a lot of film critics on social media (I’m now on Bluesky if you do that sort of thing you can find me here.) Obviously, film critics talk a lot about movies. Mostly new movies because that’s their job. I don’t really watch new movies. I like old movies. But I do like reading about what new movies are good. Well, reading is a bit of a strong word because I usually don’t read reviews before I watch a movie and I like coming into a movie as fresh as possible. So it’s more like I enjoy hearing the buzz about good new movies enough to make me make a mental note of it and possibly watch it sometime in the future.

Conclave has gotten a lot of buzz. That’s all I know about. Well the people seem to be dressed in Catholic priest attire, and the title insinuates it will be about choosing a new Pope, but that’s really all I know about it. But the buzzing has been strong enough that I really want to see it and I’m making it this week’s Pick (because that means I should be able to watch it soon.)

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Easter Condors: Sammo Hung was a huge name in Hong Kong Cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. He made a lot of movies, many of them goofy. This is his take on a Vietnam action flick. Criterion of all people are releasing it.

Yokohama BJ Blues: Radiance films brings this crime story to us. It is about a detective/blues singer trying to solve his best friends murder and find all sorts of dark secrets along the way.

Golden Harvest 2: Shining Stars: Golden Harvest was kind of a second rate Shaw Brothers studio. They made lots of kung fu flicks but with smaller budget and smaller stars. This is a nice looking boxed set full of eight films.

Seinfeld: The Complete Series 4K UHD: I’m not sure this NBC show from the 1990s really needed a UHD upgrade but here we are. I absolutely loved Seinfeld when it first aired, but something tells me I’d just find it irritating now.

Joker: Folie à Deux: Joker was a massive surprise hit. A sequel was inevitable. It was surprising just how many people seem to hate it. Critics were pretty mixed on the first one but it had a huge fanbase. This sequel seems to have irritated everyone.

Terrifier 3: I know I’m a horror nerd but something about these films just makes me not want to watch them. Everything I read about them indicates they are just a bunch of gore scenes thrown together and I want more than that in my horror.

The Searchers: John Ford’s epic western gets the 4K UHD treatment.

No Country For Old Men 4KUHD is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

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I’m a little late with this. I assume pretty much all of you follow my other blog and have heard my tales of illness and woe. Short end of it is I have pneumonia. I’m on the recovery end of it, but it was a rough go of it there for a bit.

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always bountiful with new releases and this week is no exception. The Coen Brothers are one of my favorite directors and No Country for Old Men is one of my favorite films of theirs. The Criterion Collection is releasing a 4K UHD disc this week so naturally it is my pick, but there are lots of other cool things coming out too which you can read about in my article over at Cinema Sentries.

The Wild Robot is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

Wild robot

Somewhere over the long Thanksgiving break, I managed to do something to my hip. I guess I pulled a muscle, maybe. Or something. Whatever I did, it hurts. Hurts a lot. It hurts when I walk. It hurts when I sit. It really hurts when I twist it a certain way. I’m hoping I just pulled something and that in time it will heal. But if I’m not feeling better in a few days I’ll be going to the doctor.

Also, I woke up this morning with a nasty cold.

We won’t talk about how I have terrible insurance and so I have to live in pain for a few days to justify the expense of going to a doctor.

What we will talk about is this week’s new Blu-rays. I mention my pain as a way to say I don’t really have the energy to get too heavily into any of these releases, but I’m a nerd and that means I have to talk about them a little otherwise I’d be letting my readers down.

The Wild Robot is a new animated film about a robot that finds itself stranded on an uninhabited island. Uninhabited by humans at least. It must learn to live with animals and eventually becomes a surrogate mother to a gosling. It has received wonderful reviews and I’m looking forward to finally catching up with it.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Alien: Romulus: Basically a mix tape of all the previous Alien movies that never quite justifies its own existence. Still, it is a pretty fun ride.

Aguirre the Wrath of God 4k UHD: Werner Herzog’s mesmerizing tale of Spanish Conquistadors gets a 4K upgrade from Shout Factory. You can read my full review here.

Shaun of the Dead 4K UHD Steelbook: One of my go-to movies when I’m feeling down.

Shawscope: Volume 3: Another incredible package of Shaw Brothers kung fu flicks from Arrow Video. Includes 14 films on 10 discs.

Super Spies and Secret Lies: Three Undercover Classics from Shaw: Eureka Entertainment has three more Shaw Brothers “classics.”

The Sword: A swordsman and a samurai work together to find a blade. I’ll have a full review of this one up soon.

Loki Season Two/Hawkeye Season One/The Mandalorian Season Three/Ahsoka Season One: All of the most recent Disney MCU/Star Wars shows are getting a physical release in 4K UHD. There isn’t a single one that I’d be interested in watching again (or for the first time Lokie Season Two).

Frank Capra at Columbia Collection is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

frank capra collection box

I’m generally not a fan of the way Christmas Season keeps getting bumped farther and farther up the calendar. I don’t need to see giant, inflatable Santa Clauses the day after Halloween, thank you very much. I don’t want to hear Christmas Carols at the grocery store on the first of November. Don’t tell me about Black Friday deals six weeks before Thanksgiving. Let me enjoy Autumn for a little while before I have to start thinking about presents, and visiting my in-laws, and decorating the bloody Christmas tree.

There is an exception to my bah-humbug-iness.

I’m totally down with big boxed sets of Blu-rays getting released as early as possible. That gives me plenty of time to add things to my list.

Frank Capra was one of the great directors of classic cinema. He directed the greatest of all Christmas movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, and also It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and many others.

This set includes 21 of his films that cover a great chunk of his career from his earliest silent movies to some of his great classics. It comes in a very nice-looking case and is loaded with extras.

The films include:

So This Is Love / The Way of the Strong / That Certain Thing / Submarine 4K SDR / The Younger Generation 4K SDR / Flight / Ladies of Leisure / Rain or Shine – 2 cuts / Dirigible 4K SDR / The Miracle Woman / Platinum Blonde 4K / American Madness / The Bitter Tea of General Yen / Forbidden / Lady for a Day / It Happened One Night 4K / Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 4K / Lost Horizon 4K / You Can’t Take It With You 4K / Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 4K / + Frank Capra: Mr America docu / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

This is definitely going on my Christmas wishlist and it is now this week’s pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

The Terminator (40th Anniversary, 4K UHD): I still remember my Dad renting this film back in the late 1980s. I had no idea what it was, had never heard of the film, and if I’m being honest I was probably too young to have been allowed to watch it. But I absolutely loved it. Still do. As far as I can tell the few extras that are included in this disc have been ported over from previous releases.

Godzilla Minus One (4K UHD): Forget all those silly American Godzilla flicks, this is the real deal. Just an all-around terrific Godzilla film.

A Simple Plan (Limited Edition 4K UHD): Sam Raimi’s thriller about a struggling couple who stumble upon a crashed plane with a load of cash in it got loads of critical acclaim when it came out, but I didn’t care that much for it. I think it is time for a revisit. Arrow Video has this release and they’ve loaded it with extras.

Speak No Evil: American remake of a Danish thriller about an idyllic weekend holiday that goes terribly wrong. Stars James McAvoy, McKenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy.

Funny Girl (4K UHD): Criterion presents this musical from director William Wyler about a poor Jewish girl (Barbara Streisand) who rises to fame and fortune.

CC40: To celebrate their 40th anniversary the Criterion Collection has put together this boxed set of 40 films. There doesn’t seem to be anything special about the films they chose. They have all been released by Criterion before and as far as I can tell they don’t come with any additional extras. It would be a good starter pack for someone who doesn’t already own a lot of these films (and has a lot of money), but otherwise, I can’t see any reason to buy this.

Slap the Monster: Radiance Films continues its fantastic schedule of releasing relatively obscure Italian films. This one follows a newspaper as it tries to derail a murder investigation in order to support a fascist political candidate.

Japan Organized Crime Boss: Another Radiance Film release. This one concerns an elderly Yakuza soldier who just got out of prison. He wants to lead a straight life from now on but his former compatriots keep dragging him back into the life. You can read my full review here.

Seven Samurai 4K UHD is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

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There is a new folk horror boxed set coming out from Severin Films next week. It was supposed to have come out this week. I made it my pick. I wrote a nice little thing about it. Then at the last minute, they switched the release date to next week.

So, I had to switch my pick to the Seven Samurai. I love Seven Samurai, it is one of my favorite films. Criterion remains my favorite distribution company. But the thing is I already own a Criterion copy of that film. I’m not a big fan of double dipping. Sure, it would be nice to get the 4K upgrade. If someone wants to send me that for Christmas I would be eternally grateful. But I’m not likely to buy it on my own.

That’s why it wasn’t actually my pick. Until my real pick deserted me and I needed something quick.

Anyway, you can read that write-up and learn what else came out today over at Cinema Sentries.

Escape From New York Is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

escape from new york 4k

I love a good genre movie. Whether it is a western, a horror flick, a film noir, a sci-fi film, or something else, genres give us a set of rules to follow. There is something comforting in knowing the basic elements of a film before it even begins. And yet, of course, the best genre films upend the rules and do something different.

John Carpenter is one of the greatest genre filmmakers ever. He remains one of the great masters. His best films – The Thing, Halloween, The Fog – I’ve seen dozens of times. They are endlessly entertaining.

Strangely, I’ve only seen Escape From New York once, and that was years ago. I remember loving it, but for reasons I now can’t fathom, I’ve never returned to it. I think with this new 4K UHD release from Shout Factory that will be rectified soon.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Godzilla 4K UHD: Criterion has released this film a few times, once as a Blu-ray with their usual set of extras, then again as part of their big Godzilla boxed set (I own both of those) and now again in 4K (I won’t be purchasing this one).

White Christmas 4K UHD: My wife absolutely adores this musical starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. I could live without it.

The Crow: This remake of the cult classic has gotten terrible reviews from both fans and critics.

Trap 4K UHD: A pretty fun, if ultimately quite goofy little thriller from M. Night Shyamalan. You can read my review here.

I Love Lucy: The Complete Series: I’m sure I’ve seen many episodes of this classic sitcom, but I can’t remember any of them. It just wasn’t a series I paid much attention to when I was a kid (when they endlessly reran it, I’m not old enough to have seen it when it originally aired.)

The Wizard of Oz 4K UHD: An undeniable classic gets yet another repackaging. I can’t count the number of times this has been released in a variety of formats.

Orphan Black: Echoes. The original series was utterly original and interesting and fantastic until it wasn’t. My wife and I watched the first few seasons and then it started getting bogged down inside its own endless conspiracy theories and we tuned out. I’m interested in this sequel series if only because it stars Krysten Ritter whom I love.

Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 5 is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

My wife has some extended family in the Nashville, TN area. Whenever we visit them, or even just pass through we stop at a store called McKays. McKays is a giant used book/movie/music/collectibles store. I love it. We wander the aisles for an hour or so picking out everything our budget will allow (we never enter until we’ve agreed on a spending limit, otherwise we’d go broke).

They have a very nice classics section in their DVD department and I usually wind up with a handful of films from there. My favorites are the boxed sets. There is always an assortment of old DVDs packaged together in some way or another. Sometimes it’s by genre, or all the films star a certain actor or were directed by the same person. Other times it will be films put out by a particular studio.

They don’t seem to do that type of thing as often with Blu-rays and 4K UHDs, or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough (or quite possibly my bank account can afford it so I ignore them). My pick this week is a nice-looking set of films from Columbia Studios. I can’t figure out if they have any other commonalities, probably not. As per usual with this sort of thing, some films are better than others, but I love me a boxed set and I’m adding this one to my Wish List.

the films included are All the King’s Men 4K / On the Waterfront 4K / A Man for All Seasons 4K / Tootsie 4K / The Age of Innocence 4K / Little Women 4K / The Scarlet Lady 4K / The Desert Bride 4K / Ladies of Leisure 4K / The Belle of Broadway BD.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Deadpool & Wolverine: The X-Men films have been a very mixed bag, but the best ones are some of the best comic book films ever made and Hugh Jackman has consistently been excellent in his portrayal of Wolverine. I quite liked the first Deadpool as it was a refreshing breath of (vulgar) air from the muck of comic book films we’ve been experiencing for the last decade +. The sequel was just okay. Which is to say I’ll probably watch this at some point, but not anytime soon.

Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment: I’m not a huge fan of the Hellraiser films. They tend to rely too heavily and the icky-freaky factor and not enough on creating a good story. But they have their fans and this set of the first four films from Arrow Video looks great.

Twisters: I’m from Oklahoma. We know a lot about tornados. The original Twister knew very little about them. That ruined the film for me. They made so many stupid mistakes. I’ll probably continue to skip this one.

Cuckoo: I keep hearing good things about this one. I’ve been avoiding information on it so that I can come to it fresh.

Gummo: Harmony Korine’s weird little drama about lonely people living lonely lives in Ohio gets the 4K treatment from Criterion.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Kino Lorber is giving this silent horror classic (that I still haven’t seen) the 4K treatment.

Cheeky!: Tinto Brass is famous for having directed Caligula and refusing to insert hard-core pornography into it and then he spent the rest of his career making medium-core erotic flicks. Cult Epics is giving this one the 4K treatment.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4K UHD is the new Blu-ray Pick of the Week

nightmare on elm street

After my glowing review, it should come as no surprise that my pick this week is the 4K UHD release of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I truly do love it and it truly does look fantastic in this new addition.

There are some other good horror releases coming out this week and some complete collections of television shows. Click here to view them all.

I Walked With a Zombie/The Seventh Victim is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

val lewton criterion

Val Lewton was the producer of low-budget movies for RKO during the 1940s. But while his movies were made for very little money, they never looked cheap. Many of them are true classics.

The Criterion Collection is releasing two of Lewton’s best films in a nice little double-bill. I Walked With a Zombie is one of the first films to feature the walking dead, though they are decidedly different here than they would become in the films popularized by George A. Romero. Here they are bound up in a story about voodoo and melodrama.

The Seventh Victim finds a woman looking for her lost sister and discovering a satanic cult. Both films are pretty terrific and Criterion has loaded them with their usual extras.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

A Quiet Place: Day One: A Quiet Place is a pretty terrific horror film in which John Krasinski and Emily Blunt battle aliens with super hearing. This is the third film in the series that shows us the initial invasion. But instead of the quiet farm in which the first two films take place, this one is set in New York City. Lupita Nyong’o stars.

MaXXXine: The third film in Ti West’s X trilogy (X and Pearl being the other two). Once again Mia Goth stars as Maxine a porn star with dreams of crossing over into Hollywood. In X she was just getting started but here she’s found success in the X-rated industry but has yet to get a shot at making mainstream films. But there is a killer on her trail and things get weird. This is still a fun film, but it doesn’t lean hard enough into its 1980s setting and three films into the series, and things feel more adrift than ever.

Late Night with the Devil: Pretty good little horror flick about a late-night TV host who unleashes evil into the world (don’t they all?) You can read my full review here.

Sleepy Hollow: Tim Burton’s underrated The Legend of Sleep Hollow story has Johnny Depp in the Ichabod Crane role. Paramount Pictures is giving it the 4K UHD treatment for its 25th anniversary.

Kinds of Kindness: Yorgos Lanthimos is the maker of eccentric, funny, utterly bizarre films. His latest tells a trio of stories that I don’t want to know anything about. I find it is best to go into these things not knowing. It stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemmons, and Willem Dafoe.

Robot Dreams: Animated film about a dog that builds a robot companion. I’ve been hearing good things about it.

Thelma: Delightful story about an elderly woman (June Squibb) who is conned out of a bunch of money over the phone and sets off to find the culprit.

Subservience: Megan Fox is an evil robot helper. You can read my full review here.

The Blob (1988) is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

the blob steelbook

October 1, is the start of spooky season, or as I like to call it 31 Days of Horror. I’ll talk more about that in another post, but for now, I get to be excited about all the horror movies that will be released this month. I haven’t looked ahead but in the weeks to come I suspect we will see a great many cool horror sets get released on home video.

For now we get a pretty great remake of a pretty silly 1950s monster movie. I’m talking about The Blob. I wrote my pick of the week for Cinema Sentries yesterday (which you can read here) and that led me to watch The Blob this afternoon (sorry just the streaming version I won’t be reviewing the Steelbook).

I am happy to say it is as much fun as I remembered.