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.
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch proved he was back in a major way with Only Lovers Left Alive a few years ago, and the streak continues with Paterson, a calm, introspective drama with such positive views on marriage and creativity that I was left floored. In following the cyclical life of Adam Driver‘s Paterson, a bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey, who also has dreams of being a poet, Jarmusch superbly shows that one’s own life experience — however seemingly insubstantial — is the only requirement to produce something beautiful. Moreso than any other film in 2016, this is the kind of world I want to live in. – Jordan R.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards)
There will be a lot of praise for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story predicated on it being “dark,” as some sort of return to the tone of The Empire Strikes Back. (To this day, a film program classmate declaring that Empire was the best Star Wars film “because it’s the darkest” echoes in my head.) But while the first in the “Star Wars anthology” films certainly aims for more moral ambiguity than any of the main series, it only goes so far, and it still doesn’t feel terribly different. When a space battle sequence features a Rebel commander who is a fish-man like Admiral Ackbar but not the same kind of fish-man as Admiral Ackbar, it sets my teeth on edge. When there are cameos by those two dudes Obi-Wan carved up in the Cantina (yes, really), it makes me wonder how low these movies can stoop for cameos. When the universe “expands” in this way, it actually makes it seem so much smaller. – Dan S. (full review)
Three (Johnnie To)
A sterile hospital building may not be the first choice to capture cinematic beauty, but Three proves that a film in the hands of Johnnie To means expectations will be upended. If cinematography is as much about camera placement and movement as visual quality, Three is a masterclass in the former. The best (perhaps only worthwhile) action movie of last year, this is the rare genre entry in which the intense build-up may impress more than the guns-blazing climax — itself a euphoric, sublimely executed bout of showmanship. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Office Christmas Party
Tank 432 (review)
Why We Fight
Recommended Deals of the Week
10 Cloverfield Lane (Blu-ray) – $10.16
99 Homes (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Ali (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The American (Blu-ray) – $9.46
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.03
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $8.68
The Babadook (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $7.50
The Beguiled (Blu-ray) – $8.13
Blackhat (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $10.48
Carrie (Blu-ray) – $8.45
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.64
Cosmopolis (Blu-ray) – $7.89
The Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray) – $9.96
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Django Unchained (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Force Majeure (Blu-ray) – $8.79
Frailty (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $9.70
Glengarry Glen Ross (Blu-ray) – $6.55
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $8.78
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $6.20
Green Room (Blu-ray) – $11.28
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $5.50
Heat: Director’s Definitive Edition (Blu-ray pre-order) – $16.99
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $5.99
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inherent Vice (Blu-ray) – $10.27
In the Loop ( Blu-ray) – $8.94
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray) – $5.99
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The Jacques Rivette Collection (Blu-ray pre-order) – $59.48
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Knight of Cups (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Kubo and the Two Strings (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (Blu-ray) – $6.09
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Magic Mike XXL (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $7.49
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray) – $8.23
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Moonlight (Blu-ray) – $14.99
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.57
Nightcrawler (Blu-ray) – $9.49
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $4.96
Out of Sight (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.50
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Blu-ray) – $10.99
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $4.00
Saint Laurent (Blu-ray) – $7.47
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.45
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.29
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $9.79
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.67
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Blu-ray) – $9.31
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Spartacus (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Spotlight (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Sunset Boulevard (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Sunshine (Blu-ray) – $8.36
Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.55
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Blu-ray) – $7.63
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.30
The Third Man (Blu-ray) – $10.06
Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $6.78
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The White Ribbon (Blu-ray) – $9.60
The Witch (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wolf of Wall Street (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $7.88
What are you picking up this week?