Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped. Producer J.J. Abrams used that branding as part of the wrapping for its promotional mystery box, but the movie stands perfectly alone from 2008’s found-footage monster picture. Hell, 10 Cloverfield Lane perhaps doesn’t even take place within the same fictional universe as that film — although a friend asked if it’s secretly a Super 8 sequel, and, honestly, you could think of it as one without contradicting anything in either movie. Whether the Cloverfield name fills you with wariness or enthusiasm, it would be unwise to burden Dan Trachtenberg‘s film with such prejudices. – Dan S. (full review)
45 Years (Andrew Haigh)
Andrew Haigh’s third feature as a director, 45 Years, is an excellent companion piece to its 2011 predecessor, Weekend. The latter examined the inception of a potential relationship between two men over the course of a weekend, whereas its successor considers the opposite extreme. Again sticking to a tight timeframe, the film chronicles the six days leading up to a couple’s 45th wedding anniversary. Though highly accomplished, Weekend nevertheless suffered from a tendency towards commenting on itself as a gay issues film, which at times overrode the otherwise compelling realism. Despite treating material arguably even more underrepresented in cinema – senior relationships – Haigh avoids this same self-reflexive pitfall in 45 Years, pulling off an incisive and emotionally ensnaring tour de force. – Giovanni M.C. (full review)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Alexander Hall)
A sophisticated supernatural Hollywood comedy whose influence continues to be felt, Here Comes Mr. Jordan stars the eminently versatile Robert Montgomery as a working-class boxer and amateur aviator whose plane crashes in a freak accident. He finds himself in heaven but is told, by a wry angel named Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains), that his death was a clerical error, and that he can return to Earth by entering the body of a corrupt (and about-to-be-murdered) financier—whose soul could use a transplant. Nominated for seven Oscars (it won two) and the inspiration for a sequel with Rita Hayworth and two remakes, Alexander Hall’s effervescent Here Comes Mr. Jordan is comic perfection. – Criterion.com
La Chienne (Jean Renoir)
Jean Renoir’s ruthless love triangle tale, his second sound film, is a true precursor to his brilliantly bitter The Rules of the Game, displaying all of the filmmaker’s visual genius and fully imbued with his profound humanity. Michel Simon cuts a tragic figure as an unhappily married cashier and amateur painter who becomes so smitten with a prostitute that he refuses to see the obvious: that she and her pimp boyfriend are taking advantage of him. Renoir’s elegant compositions and camera movements carry this twisting narrative—a stinging commentary on class and sexual divisions—to an unforgettably ironic conclusion. – Criterion.com
Also Arriving This Week
Eddie the Eagle (review)
Hello, My Name is Doris (review)
Get a Job (review)
Gold
Recommended Deals of the Week
Top Deal: A selection of Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg Blu-rays are under $10 this week.
All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $7.79
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.68
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.11
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $10.61
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.57
Ex Machina (Blu-ray) – $8.00
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $5.99
The Guest (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Hail, Caesar! (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.59
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $8.07
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $5.00
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
John Wick (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Macbeth (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Magic Mike XXL (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.99
The Master (Blu-ray) – $12.69
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $7.98
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $9.35
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Non-Stop (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Pan’s Labyrinth (Blu-ray) – $7.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.98
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $9.98
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.79
Prisoners (Blu-ray) – $10.49
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $8.48
Raging Bull: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $10.19
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Rio Bravo (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.36
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $5.88
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.22
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00
The Social Network (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Spotlight (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Steve Jobs (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Straight Outta Compton (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.89
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.20
They Came Together (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.52
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Witch (Blu-ray) – $14.96
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.00
What are you picking up this week?