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.
A Whit Stillman Trilogy: Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco
Over the course of the 1990s, writer-director Whit Stillman made a trilogy of films about the acid tongues and broken hearts of some haplessly erudite young Americans in New York and abroad. Set in the eighties, these films trace the arc of that decade, led by Stillman’s Oscar-nominated debut, Metropolitan, which introduced moviegoers to a strange, endangered species of privileged New Yorker, the “urban haute bourgeoisie.” Chronologically, the tale continues with The Last Days of Disco, in which, with an earnest wink, Stillman mourns the close of New York’s nightclub era via the story of two young party-going women juggling day jobs in book publishing. Finally, Barcelona plunks down a pair of love-starved upper-class men in a foreign city rife with anti-American sentiment. At once effervescent and melancholy, these are comedies about the ends of cultural moments, social change as seen through the eyes of reluctant, unflaggingly sardonic romantics. – Criterion.com
The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Despite most of the conversation surrounding Leonardo DiCaprio and his various on-set ordeals, Emmanuel Lubezki is irrefutably the star of The Revenant, capturing the unspoiled back country with a brisk, arresting touch. From the first action set piece, we’re immersed in the feral surroundings. A calm, patient shot moving across a brook, presenting the title, and curving up to Glass on the hunt serenely places us into his environment. When transitioning back to the camp, we meet only a few of the frontiersman in an unbroken take before an arrow bolts out of the woods, striking a man through the chest. Native Americans descend down from the hills surrounding the camp, with Lubezki’s camera hovering in and out of trees and freshly deceased bodies during the clash. In this thrilling opener, one is struck by the rare level of scale and immediacy on display. The majority of shots to follow — from vast vistas of snow-touched mountains to torches illuminating the darkness of a forest — are jaw-dropping. There’s even a glimmer of subtle optimism in visual cues, such as light peeking through the background in a moment of ultimate retribution. Now on Blu-ray, the special features only include a 45-minute documentary, which is also available to see here. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
Ip Man 3
The Lady in the Van (review)
Lamb
Outlaw Gangster VIP: The Complete Collection
Recommended Deals of the Week
The American (Blu-ray) – $7.39
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassin (Blu-ray) – $14.99
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $12.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.64
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Casino (Blu-ray) – $8.78
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $7.64
Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Film Collection (Blu-ray) – $17.99
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Heat (Blu-ray) – $9.03
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $13.79
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.48
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.50
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.74
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.79
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.19
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.83
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.89
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.79
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $8.43
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $7.49
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.15
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $7.26
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.38
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.49
What are you picking up this week?