Hello, it’s time for another look at highlights coming your way on Blu-ray and DVD. While it may be the fall, it’s the middle of the summer season for disc releases with plenty of blockbusters making their debuts. As always, you can click on any links you see to read full reviews. So if you can’t make it to the movies this week, be sure to give one of these titles a try!
Big New Releases!
Billionaire Boys Club – In this drama based loosely on a true story, a group of young businessmen start up a financial firm. Before long, they get caught up in a scam that causes ruin and endangers lives. Critics slashed this adaptation apart. One or two complimented the cast, but almost all others suggested the movie didn’t follow the actual events, taking far too much liberty with what actually happened. On top of that, they complained that the movie felt like little more than a knock-off of The Wolf of Wall Street knock-off. As of right now, it is being released on DVD only. It stars Taron Egerton, Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Emma Roberts and Suki Waterhouse.
Damsel – Set in the late 1800s, a prosperous American businessman decides to traverse across the American West, marry his sweetheart, and live in the wilderness. Accompanied by a drunken friend, the group end up encountering great danger along the way and their roles and views of each other become confused. This western/comedy is first arriving on DVD and received good reviews from the press. A small percentage couldn’t get on its wavelength, but far more described it as unique, unpredictable and funny, with some comparing it to early Coen Brothers films. The cast includes Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Forster and David Zellner (who is also one of the directors).
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – The most recent chapter in this dinosaur series takes the adult leads from the previous installment and returns them to the now abandoned theme park. Once there, they try to rescue as many species as they can before the locale is obliterated by a volcano. The group soon discover that their benefactors may have had ulterior motives for the operation. This picture was a massive hit with audiences, although it split reviewers. Some thought that the movie was technically accomplished and provided enough thrills to earn it a pass, although just as many griped that logic wasn’t its strong suit and that the dinos were more entertaining than the humans. It features Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda and James Cromwell. To read this site’s review, click here
Lost Child – This thriller follows an army veteran with PTSD who returns to her home in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Hoping to find her estranged brother, she instead encounters a lost young boy in the backwoods. She takes him in and tries to find out where he belongs, but it soon becomes clear that the youngster may have a strange tie to supernatural folklore in the region. Could the child be a life-draining spirit known as the Tatterdemalion? Unfortunately, this one is debuting on disc and on streaming services, so there are no reviews as of yet. Leven Rambin, Taylor John Smith and Jim Parrack headline the feature.
Nana – The main subject of this documentary is Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant, who survived stints at Auschwitz, Ravensbruck and Malchow by being the forced translator for Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele. After the war, she set out to make the world aware of what happened and speak out against anti-Semitism. This feature follows her daughter and granddaughter, who continue the fight against intolerance and racism. The picture got decent notices, but not exceptional ones. While all felt that the message was strong, there was criticism that the movie spent too much time on the daughters of the historical figure and needed to delve more into life of the family matriarch.
Siberia – This romantic thriller follows a diamond merchant whose Russian partner disappears while in Siberia. The lead decides to go visit in order to help find his friend and secure a business deal, but ends up running into difficulties and becoming infatuated with a local cafe owner. The press weren’t particularly fond of this picture. A small group admired the attempts at presenting a character study rather than a generic suspense picture. Still, almost everyone else disliked the film, commenting that it was unfocused and that the people behind the camera had a difficult time creating atmosphere. It stars Keanu Reeves, Molly Ringwald and Boris Gulyarin.
Silencer – Transitioning back to a normal life can be tough, especially if you’re a hit man. This movie follows one such person who discovers that despite quitting, his employer isn’t ready to let him retire. In fact, his daughter is immediately kidnapped, leaving the assassin with one last and very personal job. There aren’t any reviews so for this action/thriller and it appears to be debuting on disc. That typically means interested parties shouldn’t expect a masterpiece and so they will just have to take a chance on it. The cast includes Johnny Messner, Robert LaSardo, Nikki Leigh and Danny Trejo.
Summer 1993 – This drama takes place during the titular time period. After the mysterious death of her mother, a little girl is taken in by her aunt and uncle and moved out to the country near a forest. Once there, she meets a young playmate. However, will the child’s traumatic past and personal issues cause distress for those in her new environment? This Spanish foreign-language feature earned phenomenal notices during its limited run earlier in the year. Reviewers called it a stunning and captivating look at the trails of childhood, suggesting it will linger in the brains of patient viewers. It features Lala Artigas, Paula Robles and Bruna Cusi.
Blasts from the Past!
It’s another busy time for high definition upgrades of older titles. This week, Arrow Video have the Japanese fight flick, Horrors of Malformed Men (1969), featuring an escaped asylum inmate out to find what he believes is his doppelganger. The Blu-ray includes a 2K restoration from the original camera negative, two audio commentaries from film experts, talks with other Japanese directors about the late maker of this picture and plenty of publicity materials.
They are also releasing a Blu-ray of The Pajama Girl Case (1977). This Italian giallo is actually set in Australia and involves a murder investigation that may have something to do with a waitress living nearby. The disc delivers another 2K restoration of the movie from the original camera negative and comes with new subtitles, a film expert commentary, an interview with a critic of giallo flicks, new clips with a cast member, the editor and the score composer, as well as an image gallery and trailer.
Arrow Academy are putting out The Hired Hand (1971) as a “Special Edition” Blu-ray. This is a western with Peter Fonda, Warren Oates and Verna Bloom about a frontier explorer who returns to his wife after years apart and struggles with home life. Peter Fonda, who also directed the movie, provides an audio commentary for the release. The disc also includes a 2003 documentary on the film, another doc on the screenwriter, deleted scenes, an interview with Martin Scorcese about the feature, Warren Oates and Fonda talking at the National Film Theatre and many other extras.
Kino have several Blu-rays of note. The first is the Gene Hackman and Danny Glover Viet Nam film, Bat*21 (1988). This release includes a director’s commentary. If comedy it more to your liking, then there’s the Chris Elliott pirate parody, Cabin Boy (1994). It’s pretty goofy, but features an amusing cameo from retired late-night talk show host David Letterman. This one comes with plenty of bonuses, including a star and director audio track as well as new interviews with the pair, audition tapes, B-roll footage, outtakes, TV spots and a trailer.
James Bond fans may want to give Gold (1974) a try on Blu-ray. This one stars the late, great Roger Moore as the manager of a gold mine who must deal with a plot to cause a massive flood. It arrives with a film historian commentary. Impulse (1984) is an interesting little thriller about a couple who return to their hometown and find the locals behaving erratically, and eventually, violently. It stars Tim Matheson and Meg Tilly. The disc includes an audio track with the director. Finally, Kino have a Blu-ray of Retroactive (1997), a time-travel crime thriller with Jim Belushi.
Recently, Well Go USA released a box set of the Phantasm horror film series. They are now making two more Blu-ray titles from the set available individually. These include Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) and Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998). Both discs come with the same bonuses present on the box set version.
Shout! Factory are known for their releases of genre film, but this week sees a different sort of feature from them. It comes in the form of an updated Blu-ray of the Best Picture Oscar-winner, Platoon (1986). The feature is being put out as a “Limited Edition Steelbook”. The film itself has been given a 4K restoration approved by director Oliver Stone, as well as multiple extras, including two audio commentaries, deleted and extended scenes, documentary features on the production and several other making-of bonuses about the movie.
Not to totally shy away from their fanbase, the distributor is also giving horror fans a Blu-ray of Scream for Help (1984). It’s about a teenage who discovers that her stepfather is about to murder her mom and sets out to stop the plan. The film has been given a new 2K scan and comes with a film critic commentary as well as interviews with the “stepdad” and the writer. I’ve never seen this chiller and will be interested to check it out.
Mill Creek are releasing a pair of Double Feature Blu-rays. The first one contain two comedies in the form of Age of Consent (1969) with James Mason and Cactus Flower (1969), which stars Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn. The distributor’s other release contains the killer-bat horror picture Nightwing (1979) along with the mystical Jan Vincent chiller, Shadow of the Hawk (1976).
Finally, Criterion are putting out a Blu-ray of the screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). As with all releases from this company, the movie has been given a new transfer and comes with numerous extras that go into detail about this classic and its satire of class structure.
You Know, For Kids!
Here are some new releases that may appeal to youngsters.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Family Fun Collection (PBS)
The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 3
On the Tube!
And below is a listing of this week’s TV-themed releases – there’s some great variety in this edition.
Blondie: The Complete 1957 TV Series
Community: The Complete Series
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (Hallmark TV-movie)
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Family Fun Collection (PBS)
Fahrenheit 451 (HBO Made-for-Cable movie)
Frontline: UN Sex Abuse Scandal (PBS)
The Gifted: Season 1
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: The Complete Series
The Looming Tower: Season 1
MacGuyver: Season 2
Madam Secretary: Season 4
Magnum P.I.: The Complete Series
Masterpiece: Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew (PBS)
Masterpiece: The Miniaturist (PBS)
NOVA: Rise of the Superstorms (PBS)
The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 3
Supergirl: Season 3
X-Files: Season 11