New Release Wall
“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned big movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of “Dynasty” you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends. Everyone in the movie is doing a variation on Italian-accented English, the settings are opulent, and Gaga is giving look after look after hat after hat and you will respect the wild, criminal duh-raaamaaa of it all.
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“American Underdog” (Lionsgate) Zachary Levi stars as NFL champ Kurt Warner, who overcame multiple challenges and setbacks on the road to football glory.
“Apex” (RLJE Films) Bruce Willis must kill or be killed in order to escape prison.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog” (Paramount) A mad scientist is trying to capture everyone’s favorite dog, one that’s both bright red and bigger than a house.
“Encanto” (Disney) Enchanting animated musical where no one talks about Bruno.
“Eternals” (Marvel) Ten new Marvel superheroes introduced! They’re from space, we think!
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (Sony) The ghostbusters are back, and this time it’s extremely serious, apparently.
The Kingsman Collection (20th Century/Disney) All three action-packed Kingsman films in 4K, in one box, still laddishly obnoxious.
“Lamb” (A24) Whatever you do, don’t take an Icelandic lamb away from its mother and dress it up in little outfits. It won’t turn out well.
“The Spine of Night” (Shudder/RLJE) Animated epic fantasy superviolence stemming from forbidden knowledge and a sacred plant.
New Indie
“Morvern Callar” (Fun City Editions) It’s the 20th anniversary of the 2002 sophomore feature from acclaimed filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (“You Were Never Really Here”), and it’s lost none of its difficult power. Samantha Morton plays Morvern Callar, a woman who reacts to her boyfriend’s suicide with a variety of unpredictable behaviors, including pretending she wrote his novel and taking a sunny vacation in Spain, all while the evocative soundtrack — featuring the Velvet Underground, Can, Stereolab, Aphex Twin — gives voice to her tendency to remain silent.
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“Give or Take” (Breaking Glass) A comedy about grief and real estate with Cheri Oteri and Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz.
“The Midnight Swim” (Yellow Veil) Three sisters lose their mother in a bottomless lake, possibly contact a ghost, and then find themselves drawn back to the water.
“Shattered” (Lionsgate) “Fatal Attraction” meets “Mercy” with John Malkovich and Frank Grillo in a thriller about a very bad nurse.
“Superhost” (Shudder/RLJE) Travel vloggers run afoul of a psychotic host in this antidote to every irritating Vrbo ad.
New Foreign
“El Planeta” (Utopia) Artist-turned-filmmaker Amalia Ulman’s debut feature about a young woman who turns con artist with her mother to avoid eviction in a weird “post-crisis” Madrid is an exercise in nerve and defiant weirdness. The pair enact grifts both large and small, and the entire thing is a black-and-white celebration of post-Jim-Jarmusch odd behavior. Not my cup of café con leche, but it has been the object of critical acclaim.
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“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” (Magnolia) A wild Romanian comedy about sexual hypocrisy, COVID, and revenge.
“Days” (Grasshopper) Acclaimed director Tsai Ming-liang’s nearly wordless drama about two lonely men will break your heart.
“Gintama: The Very Final” (Shout Factory) The last film in the apocalyptic “Gintama” anime series.
“Hard Hit” (Capelight Pictures) South Korean action thriller from Kim Chang-Ju puts a bomb your car and won’t let you out.
“Hypnosis” (Vinegar Syndrome/Altered Innocence) When the doctor tries to cure your sleepwalking with hypnosis in the dead of Russian winter, the cure might be worse than the problem.
Nocturna: The Collection (Breaking Glass) A story and its opposite, a double feature of existential redemption from award-winning Argentine director Gonzalo Calzada.
“Seobok: Project Clone” (Well Go USA) The pitfalls of transporting a human clone to a place that’s safe for human clones, more or less explained.
“Soumaya” (IndiePix) A French Muslim woman unjustly accused and caught up in anti-terrorist policing watches her life become a struggle for exoneration and justice.
“Suzanna Andler” (Icarus) From director Benoit Jacquot and based on a Marguerite Duras play, Charlotte Gainsbourg takes a beach house on the Riviera and falls for a hot young lover.
“They Say Nothing Stays the Same” (Film Movement) debut feature from Japanese director Joe Odagiri, featuring cameos from an array of Japan’s biggest film stars.
New Doc
“Prisms and Portraits: The Films of Rosine Mbakam” (Icarus) Among the most vital documentary filmmakers working today, Cameroonian-born director Mbakam delves into the real stories of real women — among them a hair salon owner, a sex worker, and her own mother — who face challenges due to the economic legacy and structural racism of colonialism. This four-disc set covers Mbakam’s films of the past decade, preserving the work of a filmmaker whose output is little seen even in the context of the arthouse.
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“A Cops and Robbers Story” (Greenwich) A former gang member becomes a cop, and when he speaks out in favor of police reform, he is targeted by fellow cops.
“Joy Womack: The White Swan” (Film Movement) How dancer Womack became the first American woman signed to a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet.
“Julia” (Sony) A loving, gentle look at the life and legacy of Julia Child.
“Little Girl” (Music Box) Heartwarming documentary about a family banding together to support their transgender daughter.
“Marionette Land” (MVD Visual) Sweetly eccentric story of a man and his all-marionette theater
“Summer of Soul” (Searchlight) Stunning, joy-and-consciousness-filled 1969 concert with the best Black artists of their day.
“A Walk in Her Shoes” (IndiePix Films) Author Metra Lundy recreates a 250-mile walk from Maryland to Canada as tribute to Harriet Tubman.
New Grindhouse
“Surf Nazis Must Die” (Troma) This enduring nugget of gnarly ’80s shlock takes the excesses of its decade and points them in the direction of righteousness. When a giant earthquake rocks the beaches of California and, in the chaotic aftermath, gangs of neo-Nazi punks terrorize the area, it’s time for a bloody battle to keep the endless summer from being destroyed by Hitler Youth. Nobody does this sort of thing quite like Troma, which is why they’re the gold standard of trash cinema.
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“Deadly Games” (Arrow) A horror board game turns real in this 1982 cult shocker.
“Flag of Iron” (88 Films) A 1980 entry into the book of evidence that all Shaw Bros. martial-arts pictures are worth your time. This one is from legendary director Chang Cheh (“The One-Armed Swordsman”).
“Ghostriders” (MVD Rewind) Wacky 1987 horror-western with some cowboys (who are also phantoms) seeking Old West vengeance.
“God’s Gun” (Kino Lorber) Lee Van Cleef and Jack Palance star in this 1976 spaghetti western.
“Legendary Weapons of China” (88 Films) Is every Shaw Bros martial arts picture a classic? Yes it is, and here’s one from 1982 written by, directed by, and starring Liu Chia-liang.
“The Monster of Camp Sunshine” & “Honeymoon of Terror” (AGFA/Something Weird) Homicidal maniacs stalk naked people in this wild and sleazy double feature.
“Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” (Screen Gems) A small town on the brink of death has to rid itself of its resident evil. Yes, the town is named Raccoon City. There are no raccoons in it, so what are we even doing here?
“Settlers” (RLJE) Earth people settling on Mars discover they’re not exactly welcome there.
“Side Out” (Mill Creek Entertainment) 1990’s greatest Malibu volleyball jocks C. Thomas Howell and Peter Horton spike the ball and enjoy women wearing bikinis.
New Classic
“Written on the Wind” (The Criterion Collection) No one in Hollywood made melodramas quite like Douglas Sirk, and Sirk himself never quite made a movie like this tale of unhappy oilman Robert Stack, who’s convinced his new wife Lauren Bacall is betraying him with his blue-collar best pal Rock Hudson. Dorothy Malone deserved her Best Supporting Actress Oscar if only for the scene in which she performs a frenzied mambo that’s intercut with her father’s fatal heart attack. Absolute must viewing.
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“Boat People” (The Criterion Collection) Director Ann Hui explores the circumstances that led hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to flee their country, in a drama with passion and compassion.
“The Capture” (The Film Detective) Dark 1950 drama with Lew Ayres as a man who falls in love with the widow (Teresa Wright) of the man whose death he’s partially responsible for, from “The Great Escape” director John Sturges.
“Cain and Abel” (Kani Releasing) Acclaimed filmmaker Lino Brocka’s 1982 Filipino family drama finally comes to Blu-Ray.
“Dancing Pirate” (MVD Visual) Early Technicolor musical earned a 1936 Oscar for “Best Dance Direction.”
“Delta Space Mission” (Deaf Crocodile) Surreal animated Romanian sci-fi from 1984, which was the most futuristic year, gets a 4K restoration.
“Edge of Darkness” (Warner Archive Collection) From Academy Award-winning director Lewis Milestone (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) comes this somewhat lesser-known but vital 1943 dark classic of anti-fascist resistance, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan.
“The Ernie Game” (Canadian International Pictures) An often overlooked New-Hollywood-by-way-of-Montreal classic of Canadian cinema about a young writer’s journey through a fragmented mental health crisis.
“Escape from L.A.” (Paramount) Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken saves Los Angeles from a doomsday device in John Carpenter’s 80s cult classic, now in 4K.
“Gold Diggers of 1933” (Warner Archive Collection) Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers with Busby Berkeley sing and dance their way into love and stardom. A classic of early musicals. Funny and eye-popping, but also blunt about the realities of Depression-era America.
“The Great Moment” (Kino Lorber) Known for classic comedy, this Preston Sturges historical drama with Joel McCrea and Betty Field recalls the discovery of anesthesia.
“The Hurt Locker” (Lionsgate) Unbearably suspenseful Best Picture Academy Award winner in a new 4K release with a Best Buy Exclusive Steelbook package.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (Kino Lorber) The 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, and Jeff Goldblum that became a classic in its own right.
“La Dolce Vita” (Paramount) It’s love, love, and love with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in Fellini’s legendary tale of the beautiful and doomed.
“La La Land” (Lionsgate) A Best Buy exclusive 4K Steelbook of this contemporary classic
Lies and Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol (Arrow) A quintet of films from the French master of suspense: “Torment,” “Betty,” “Madame Bovary,” “Inspector Lavardin,” and “Cop au Vin.”
“Looper” (Sony) Let Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt confuse you all over again in 4K!
“Love Affair” (The Criterion Collection) Before “An Affair to Remember” came Leo McCarey’s original four-hanky romance.
“Miller’s Crossing” (The Criterion Collection) The Coen brothers do a period-piece gangster movie in a most Coen kind of way.
“Monsieur Beaucaire” (Kino Lorber) Bob Hope is a barber in the court of Louis XV and faces the guillotine, but, you know, comedically.
“Pals” (“Colegas”) (Altered Innocence) Two best friends turn to street hustling and crime when one impregnates the sister of the other in this 1982 Spanish import.
“Requiem for a Dream” (Lionsgate) Darren Aronofsky’s absolute lack of subtlety gets the 4K treatment. (Best Buy exclusive)
“The Three Musketeers” (Warner Archive Collection) New Blu-ray of the 1948 Technicolor classic from MGM, featuring Gene Kelly, Gig Young, and Angela Lansbury.
“The Unknown Man of Shandigor” (Deaf Crocodile) Swiss director Jean-Louis Roy’s 60s super-spy thriller featuring legendary French singer Serge Gainsbourg as a hipster assassin.
“A Walk in the Sun” (Kit Parker Films) A new restoration of the class WWII war drama with Dana Andrews and Norman Lloyd.
“Wayne’s World” (Paramount) New Blu-ray steelbook for a comedy that’s turning…30? No way? Way!
“Where There’s Life” (Kino Lorber) In this 1947 comedy thriller, Bob Hope is chased by spies and kidnappers when he learns he’s the heir to a “far away” kingdom.
New TV
“The Last Tycoons” (Icarus) This eight-part documentary series from Florence Strauss about a group of French film producers in the post-WWII era who made a who’s-who and what’s-what of modern Euro cinema. They were responsible for all the classics, from “Breathless” to “Beauty and the Beast,” from “Night and Fog” to “Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” even groundbreaking sexy softcore crowd pleasers like “Emmanuelle.”
“Animal Kingdom”: The Complete Fifth Season (WB) Ellen Barkin and her criminal crew are still at it.
“Gomorrah”: Third Season (Kino Lorber) Italy’s “Breaking Bad” is building a cult audience in the U.S.
“Heels”: The Complete First Season (Lionsgate) Big lugs in a small town dream of wrestling stardom and wear tiny little shorts.
“Kamen Rider Zero-One”: The Complete Series (Shout Factory) 50th anniversary package includes 46 episodes on 8 discs plus a movie. A must for dedicated fans.
“Power Book III: Raising Kanan”: The Complete First Season (Starz) This prequel spinoff to 50 Cent’s hit series explores how a family crime dynasty gets built.
“Riverdale”: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner Bros) Oh, you know, Archie this, Jughead that, Betty and Veronica all the live-long day.
“Stargirl”: The Complete Second Season (DC/Warner Bros) DC teen superhero Stargirl leads the young Justice Society of America.
“Ultraman Zero: The Chronicle”: The Series (Mill Creek Entertainment) In case you didn’t know, Ultraman Zero is a young upstart Ultraman, but he’s still very good at fighting a variety of monsters.