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.
Aladdin (Ron Clements and John Musker)
The first film I recall seeing in a theater, Aladdin was certainly a formative moviegoing experience, and having recently revisited it over the summer, it still wonderfully holds up. Now coming to Blu-ray, Disney’s remastered edition includes a wealth of extra, topped by a nine-minute reel of Robin Williams outtakes, coming to life with storyboards. Also including a pair of audio commentaries, a featurette on the Broadway adaptation, and more, it’s an essential pick-up. – Jordan R.
The Brood (David Cronenberg)
A disturbed woman is receiving a radical form of psychotherapy at a remote, mysterious institute. Meanwhile, her five-year-old daughter, under the care of her estranged husband, is being terrorized by a group of demonic beings. How these two story lines connect is the shocking and grotesque secret of this bloody tale of monstrous parenthood from David Cronenberg, starring Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. With its combination of psychological and body horror, The Brood laid the groundwork for many of the director’s films to come, but it stands on its own as a personal, singularly scary vision. – Criterion.com
Call Me Lucky (Bobcat Goldthwait)
Do you know Barry Crimmins? It doesn’t really matter if you do or you don’t, by the end of Bobcat Goldthwait‘s Call Me Lucky you’ll have trouble getting him out of your mind. Crimmins, a tough-nosed, politically-minded comedian, founded two comedy clubs in Boston and helped foster the careers of many now-famous comedians, including Goldthwait himself. All the while, Crimmins was harboring demons from his past, which gradually crept into the forefront of his life, both on and off the stage. As these revelations come to light in the film, what begins as a semi-serious, mostly-funny portrait of a never-was becomes something much more dramatic and much more important. – Dan M.
Dope (Rick Famuyiwa)
Dope opens with a sense of energy proclaiming that writer-director Rick Famuyiwa has something to say, and he’s going to do it in his own particular way. Difficult to quantify, the Sundance drama is many things: a love letter to the 1990’s era of style and hip-hop, a coming-of-age story, a crime drama, a romance, an examination of social media, and an offbeat comedy. While some of these strands don’t entirely excel, Dope is often a refreshingly lively and passionate work of filmmaking. – Jordan R. (full review)
Matchstick Men (Ridley Scott)
With the arrival of The Martian, many have called it the best Ridley Scott film since _______, going back a decade or more in their choice to show his supposed recent rut. While I’d disagree and fill in the blank with The Counselor, many have named Matchstick Men, and for good reason. Now finally arriving on Blu-ray, the release of the character-focused con man comedy starring Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell features a Ridley Scott commentary and a behind-the-scenes documentary. – Jordan R.
Witness (Peter Weir)
It’s unfortunate we’ve gone half-a-decade since a new Peter Weir movie with no movement on the horizon. A director who seems to tackle a new challenge with every project, if you have yet to catch up with his work, it coms with a high recommendation. One of his best dramas, the Harrison Ford-led Witness, gets the Blu-ray treatment this week although sadly with no extras. Set in the Amish country of Pennsylvania as we follow a boy (a young Lukas Haas) who sees a murder and Ford’s character is put on the case, it’s a tense crime drama. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
A Special Day
Escape From Alcatraz
San Andreas (review)
Tomorrowland (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
(Note: new additions are in red)
Adaptation (Blu-ray) – $7.99
A Clockwork Orange (Blu-ray) – $6.99
A Most Wanted Man (Blu-ray) – $8.99
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $8.00
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $6.80
The American (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $7.25
Black Swan (Blu-ray) – $6.69
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $8.25
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $8.16
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $7.21
Casablanca and The African Queen (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Children of Men (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Cloverfield (Blu-ray) – $9.04
Collateral (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Damsels in Distress (Blu-ray) – $8.37
Drive (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Fly (Blu-ray) – $5.96
Gangs of New York (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Good Will Hunting (Blu-ray) – $6.99
The Graduate (Blu-ray) – $8.33
The Grandmaster (Blu-ray) – $5.00
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $7.82
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $9.61
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $8.29
Kingdom of Heaven 10th Anniversary (Blu-ray) – $5.46
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $7.49
Laura (Blu-ray) – $9.78
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Magic Mike (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $4.95
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.65
Mother (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Observe & Report (Blu-ray) – $7.49
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.73
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Reality Bites (Blu-ray) – $9.25
Rear Window (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $9.69
The Secret In Their Eyes (Blu-ray) – $6.46
Selma (Blu-ray) – $10.24
Seven (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Seven Psychopaths (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Shining (Blu-ray) – $9.99
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.14
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Stoker (Blu-ray) – $7.43
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.25
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.69
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.81
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $7.84
They Came Together (Blu-ray) – $9.68
True Grit (Blu-ray) – $9.95
This is the End (Blu-ray) – $7.77
Under the Skin (Blu-ray) – $7.99
We Own the Night (Blu-ray) – $6.89
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.36
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $9.99
What are you picking up this week?