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. If we were provided screener copies, we’ll have our own write-up, but if that’s not the case, one can find official descriptions from the distributors. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best 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.
A Brief History of Time (Errol Morris)
Errol Morris turns his camera on one of the most fascinating men in the world: the pioneering astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, afflicted by a debilitating motor neuron disease that has left him without a voice or the use of his limbs. An adroitly crafted tale of personal adversity, professional triumph, and cosmological inquiry, Morris’s documentary examines the way the collapse of Hawking’s body has been accompanied by the untrammeled broadening of his imagination. Telling the man’s incredible story through the voices of his colleagues and loved ones, while making dynamically accessible some of the theories in Hawking’s best-selling book of the same name, A Brief History of Time is at once as small as a single life and as big as the ever-expanding universe. – Criterion.com
The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa)
A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director’s most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas’s Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity. – Criterion.com
Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin, adapted from Scott Heim‘s acclaimed novel, is an intensely powerful chronicle of childhood innocence lost. At the age of eight, Kansas youngsters Neil and Brian played on the same little league baseball team. Now, ten years later, the two boys couldn’t be more different. Neil is a charismatic but emotionally aloof male hustler while Brian is a nervous introvert obsessed with the idea that he has been abducted by a UFO. When the boys parallel lives inevitably intersect, the pair unearth dark, repressed secrets on a harrowing and unforgettable journey of self discovery. – Official Synopsis
Rent
Recommended Deals of the Weeks
(Note: new additions are in red)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Blu-ray) – $8.48
Adventureland (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Almost Famous (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Amadeus: Director’s Cut (Blu-ray) – $8.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.65
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $7.57
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Caddyshack (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Capote (Blu-ray) – $9.98
Casablanca/The African Queen (Blu-ray Combo Pack) – $8.96
City of God (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Cool Hand Luke (Blu-ray) – $6.80
Contact (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Dark City (Blu-ray) – $7.98
The Departed (Blu-ray) – $8.18
The Fugitive (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Halloween (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Hannah and Her Sisters (Blu-ray) – $8.83
Heat (Blu-ray) – $8.48
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $9.17
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.20
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray) – $7.43
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Once Upon a Time in the West (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Messenger (Blu-ray) – $6.83
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $6.96
Raging Bull (Blu-ray) – $8.79
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Rebecca (Blu-ray) – $9.08
Seven Psychopaths (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Source Code (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Spring Breakers (Blu-ray) – $9.96
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $7.86
The Town (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Tropic Thunder (Blu-ray) – $8.76
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $8.98
Vacation (Blu-ray) – $9.69
The Wild Bunch (Blu-ray) – $6.99
What are you picking up this week?