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.
Beyond the Lights (Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Beyond the Lights delights in being exactly what it is — which, unfortunately, is something most will dismiss as standard date-night fare without casting a second glance. Yes, at one level, it is a very good, albeit predictable film perfect for couples looking for something both heartening but intelligent. At another, it delivers to us one of the most compelling and endearing female characters we’ve seen this year, and it turns out she’s hiding right there, beneath the girl everyone has been looking at all along. This is another minor gem in Prince-Bythewood’s directorial crown. – Nathan B. (full review)
Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee)
Tradition! Tradition! Cultures across the globe have been discussing and debating family traditions throughout history. Director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Life of Pi) weaves a funny, poignant and always entertaining story of one such family. Centered on a father and his three unmarried daughters living in modern day Taiwan where each Sunday, as is their tradition, they gather around the table to share a meal, stories and digest the wisdom of their all-knowing father. Both love and laughter are endless in Eat Drink Man Woman (Yin shi nan nu). – Olive Films
Watership Down (Martin Rosen)
With this passion project, screenwriter-producer-director Martin Rosen brilliantly achieved what had been thought nearly impossible: a faithful big-screen adaptation of Richard Adams’s classic British dystopian novel about a community of rabbits under terrible threat from modern forces. With its naturalistic hand-drawn animation, dreamily expressionistic touches, gorgeously bucolic background design, and elegant voice work from such superb English actors as John Hurt, Ralph Richardson, Richard Briers, and Denholm Elliott, Watership Down is an emotionally arresting, dark-toned allegory about freedom amid political turmoil. – Criterion.com
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
I didn’t give many films four stars this year (the top four entries here are it) and, until catching Whiplash, none hit me with the force that demanded I do so. The fact that it would be a breakout to finally give me that visceral punch to the gut makes it all the more astounding. Damien Chazelle‘s look into the dangerously volatile world of genius ran away with the 2014 crown before the last note of its mesmerizing, edge-of-your-seat climax cut to black. J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller‘s powerhouse performances highlight the whole, but this thing is so much more than its stellar parts. – Jared M.
Also Available This Week
Big Hero 6 (review)
Fellini Satyricon
Horrible Bosses 2 (review)
The Majestic
Recommended Deals of the Week
(Note: new additions are in red)
12 Years a Slave (Blu-ray) – $11.99
21 Jump Street (Blu-ray) – $6.96
Alien Anthology (Blu-ray) – $24.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.74
Atonement (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.60
Black Swan (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Bronson (Blu-ray) – $10.91
Burn After Reading (Blu-ray) – $6.39
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Casablanca (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Casino (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.98
Collateral (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Contagion (Blu-ray) – $8.83
Dead Man (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Do the Right Thing (Blu-ray) – $8.10
Drive (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Fly (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Gangs of New York (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Good Will Hunting (Blu-ray) – $7.50
The Grey (Blu-ray) – $6.96
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
In the Loop (Blu-ray) – $7.94
Inside Llewyn Davis (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Jackie Brown (Blu-ray) – $7.79
Killing Them Softly (Blu-ray) – $10.00
L.A. Confidential (Blu-ray) – $8.64
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Observe & Report (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Office Space (Blu-ray) – $8.32
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $7.26
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Reality Bites (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Rover (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Secret In Their Eyes (Blu-ray) – $8.17
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Seven (Blu-ray) – $7.50
sex, lies, and videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.19
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $7.49
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $8.87
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Spring Breakers (Blu-ray) – $7.99
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $7.50
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $7.99
This is the End (Blu-ray) – $9.99
To the Wonder (Blu-ray) – $12.49
Vanilla Sky (Blu-ray pre-order) – $8.45
Volver (Blu-ray) – $6.55
We Own the Night (Blu-ray) – $6.91
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $9.99
What are you picking up this week?