The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE.
NEW ON DVD/BLU-RAY/4K IN SEPTEMBER: ALL OF US STRANGERS, MENUS PLAISIRS, GREGG ARAKI’S TEEN APOCALPYSE TRILOGY, AND MORE!
NEW RELEASE WALL
All of Us Strangers (The Criterion Collection): With previous films like Weekend and Lean On Pete, writer-director Andrew Haigh has revealed his fluency in the language of heartache and longing, and those sentiments are front and center in this acclaimed drama. Andrew Scott stars as a blocked screenwriter dealing with not only a potential new relationship with a neighbor (Paul Mescal) but also the fact that the ghosts of the writer’s parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) have turned up at his childhood home, meeting their son as an adult for the first time. It’s a beautiful, emotional, and literally haunting tale.
Also available:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return – again – to fight more crime with comedy.
The Fabulous Four (Decal Bleecker): A group of women (Megan Mullally, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Susan Sarandon, and Sissy Spacek) travel to be bridesmaids in their friend’s (Bette Midler) surprise wedding.
Inside Out 2 (Disney): All the feels are back, and now that their kid is a teenager, there are a lot more of them.
Longlegs (Decal Neon): Osgood Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins) delivers his latest acclaimed horror film as writer-director, and this one is about a creepy serial killer. Is the killer Nicolas Cage? Check it out for yourself.
Mothers’ Instinct (Decal Neon): Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway star in this period psychological thriller about housewives whose feud sparks dire consequences.
See You Next Tuesday (Factory25): In this blistering dark comedy, a pregnant woman whose unpleasant personality puts off everyone around her finds herself crashing with her lesbian sister, who also hates her.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
Before Dawn (Well Go USA Entertainment): Australian actor Levi Miller (Better Watch Out, A Wrinkle in Time) plays a fresh-faced sheep farmer who finds himself plunged into the bloody conflict of World War I in this harrowing drama. Based on the diaries of soldiers who fought for Australia and New Zealand in the trenches, this film shines a light on an oft-forgotten and tumultuous moment in 20th-century history.
Also available:
Midwives (Icarus Films): Two young French women embark on careers as midwives and encounter a variety of challenges.
Tótem (Janus Contemporaries): Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés’ acclaimed feature about a family dealing with a birthday party shrouded by impending grief.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros (Zipporah Films): Nobody else makes documentaries like the great Frederick Wiseman – he uses long takes (in long movies) and eschews elements like score, interviews, or even lower-third IDs for this subjects, and the results are an immersive, fly-on-the-wall sense of time and place. He’s taken his cameras into three of the greatest restaurants in the world, all owned by the Troisgros family, as well as to the farms that provide them with the food they serve, and it’s a poetic, hypnotic look at the art of cooking and of hospitality. Keep some snacks handy; this is a four-hour trip that will stimulate your appetite.
Also available:
Cat City (First Run Features): Like the Turkish film Kedi, this doc explores the phenomenon of feral cats, this time in Chicago.
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Kino Lorber): Taraji P. Henson narrates this lovingly made film about the life of acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni.
Junk Films: The Collected Short Shockumentaries of Tsurisaki Kiyotaka (Massacre Video): A depraved dive into the death photography of the Japanese artist who never flinches from the aftermath of tragedy.
How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer (Zeitgeist): Bio-doc about Norman Mailer, who was an American icon, a literary titan, and an exceptionally problematic man.
Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory (Kino Lorber): A man invents a prosthetic nipple to help his wife after her mastectomy, and inadvertently begins a business that changes people’s lives.
Not Not Jazz (Oscilloscope/MVD): The story of Medeski, Martin & Wood, the improvisatory band that is indeed not not jazz.
Sorry/Not Sorry (Greenwich Entertainment): All the women comics that Louis C.K. abused get their turn to speak about the damage done to their careers.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
The Strangers (Scream Factory): At the time of its release, this thriller starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman came and went like many a horror film, but over the years, its impact has grown. (And not just because it spawned sequels and prequels.) There’s something about the randomness of the horror here – “You were home” is the only justification offered for the home intruders’ violent attack – that made it stick uncomfortably in viewers’ memories (and psyches). This new Collector’s Edition offers the film’s 4K debut.
Also available:
Anthropophagus 2000 (Massacre Video): German horror filmmaker Andreas Schnass remakes the classic 1980 Italian cannibal shocker.
The Antichrist (Kino Cult): In the wake of The Exorcist came this 1974 Italian version, now in 4K.
Avenging Force (KL Studio Classics): When a senator is targeted by a paramilitary group, his martial-artist pal tracks them down in this 1986 fightfest.
The Chronicles of Riddick (Arrow) Vin Diesel fights the Necromongers on Helion Prime in 4K, with the help of Dame Judi Dench.
Friday the 13th (Arrow): It’s the 2009 remake, to complete your collection of Crystal Lake-iana.
Link (KL Studio Classics): Check out Elisabeth Shue fighting eccentric zoologist Terence Stamp’s murderous orangutan butler in 4K.
Madness (Raro Video): Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro stars in this Italian horror movie from Slaughter Hotel director Fernando Di Leo.
Rolling Vengeance (KL Studio Classics): 1987 vigilante justice on wheels as a trucker builds an 8-ton rig to enact revenge on the people who killed his family.
The Suffering of Monique (Massacre Video): Extreme German horror director Andreas Schnaas is back for this 2023 descent into torture, sex, and boundary-pushing madness.
Tattooed Life (Radiance): Hideki Takahashi stars in this classic 1965 Seijun Suzuki story of gang violence and betrayal.
13 Notes in Red (Redemption): Contemporary French horror entry about a woman fighting for her life and her memory.
The Threat (Arrow): Kinji Fukasaku’s gritty 1966 Japanese crime thriller.
Torso (Arrow): It’s 4K giallo time with this 1973 slasher whose Italian title translates to “The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence.”
Two Taoist Tales (Eureka Entertainment): Two fantastical 80s Hong Kong action films featuring everyone’s favorites: demonic sorcerers and banana monsters.
Zoltan… Hound of Dracula (Kino Cult): The 1977 Michael Pataki/Jose Ferrer thriller is about Dracula’s dog (that is, in fact, its alternate title).
NEW CLASSIC
Go Fish (Cinematographe) / Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy (The Criterion Collection): The New Queer Cinema isn’t quite so new anymore, as the movement hits its 30th birthday. Still, the films that emerged from that moment were revolutionary then and still important now. Rose Troche’s Go Fishwas a scrappy, DIY comedy that reflected the urban bohemia of its makers (breakout star Guinevere Turner co-wrote the film with Troche), and it was perhaps the first lesbian movie to focus on community and friend circles rather than one solitary woman’s coming-out journey. Gregg Araki followed his NQC breakout The Living End with the trio featured on this new Criterion set, Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere, movies that pushed the boundaries of content and imagery and married his decidedly queer sensibilities with his love of Godardian violence and doomed romance. These works are part of history, but they continue to live and breathe and inspire new generations.
Also available:
Blue Desert (IndiePix Classics): Eder Santos 2013 sci-fi fantasy is based in part on Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit.
Botany Bay (KL Studio Classics): The 1953 seafaring adventure with Alan Ladd and James Mason.
Brigitte Bardot Collection / Les Femmes / Naughty Girl / Two Weeks in September (Kino Classics): The DVD collection also includes all three films starring the legendary sex goddess along with Please, Not Now!; the individual releases are available as Blu-rays.
Bringing Out the Dead (Paramount Presents): 4K restoration of Martin Scorsese’s 1999 psychological thriller starring Nicolas Cage as a burned-out NYC paramedic.
Cowboys & Aliens (KL Studio Classics) A 4K restoration of the 2011 sci-fi/western/action/thriller hybrid with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
The Dragon Painter (The Milestone Cinematheque): A 1919 silent drama starring the impossibly handsome Japanese matinee idol Sessue Hayakawa.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XX and Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI (KL Studio Classics): Two box sets showcasing the bad old days and multiple trips over to the wrong side of the tracks. Titles include Make Haste to Live, Appointment with Danger, and Captain Carey, U.S.A.(XX) and Short Cut to Hell, Shack Out on 101, and Cloak and Dagger (1946) (XXI).
First Love (KL Studio Classics): A sensitive ’70s student romance with Carrie’s William Katt and The Partridge Family’s Susan Dey.
July Rhapsody (Cheng Cheng Films) A 4K restoration of Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui’s acclaimed 2002 drama about a teacher facing a midlife crisis, starring Jacky Cheung and the late Anita Mui.
The Ladykillers (KL Studio Classics): 4K restoration of the 1955 Ealing Studios crime-comedy classic starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.
The Long Good Friday (The Criterion Collection): 4K restoration of this grim, heartbreaking 1980 British crime drama starring Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan.
A Man on His Knees (Radiance): Gritty 1979 Italian crime drama from Damiano Damiani, who was once called “the most American of Italian directors.”
Murder on the Orient Express (KL Studio Classics): 4K restoration of the original 1974 Agatha Christie all-star whodunnit.
My Favorite Spy (KL Studio Classics): Bob Hope is mistaken for an international spy in this silly ’50s comedy co-starring Hedy Lamarr.
Red Mountain (KL Studio Classics): Alan Ladd battles Confederate soldiers in this rousing ’50s western from William Dieterle.
Repo Man (The Criterion Collection): A 4K restoration of the hilarious punk-rock classic full of deadpan wit, weird plot turns, Harry Dean Stanton, and that Suicidal Tendencies song.
You Are Not Alone (Altered Innocence): Late-’70s gay coming-of-age drama about two Danish boys finding love in a boarding school.
NEW TV
Call My Agent!: The Complete Series (MHz Choice): One of those shows like Ugly Betty or The Office that has spawned country-specific remakes around the world, this French original is engagingly hilarious and addictively soapy, and by the end, you may even find yourself identifying with agents, of all people. The employees of a major French talent agency weather business calamities, egos, and work-challenged love lives, all while also dealing with their thin-skinned clientele, played by a galaxy of stars making fun of themselves: Isabelle Huppert, Jean Reno, Sigourney Weaver, Monica Bellucci, Jean Dujardin, and dozens more, French and otherwise, pop up over the course of the series.
Also available:
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: Video Scrapbook (MPI Media Group): A companion piece to the complete-series box set of this legendary sitcom, this new DVD offers lots of behind-the-scenes look at the show that shaped early American television.
All This I Will Give to You (MHz Choice): A French writer inherits a vineyard full of wicked family secrets.
Arctic Circle: Seasons 1-3 (MHz Choice): Eerie and icy Finnish-German crime series about a detective and a scientist racing against time to solve the mystery of a virus.
Babylon Berlin: Season 4 (MHz Choice): This acclaimed German neo-noir series takes place during the Weimar era to the brink of WWII.
Chains of Gold (KL Studio Classics): John Travolta completists, here’s your chance to watch his 1991 TV-movie with Joey Lawrence.
Fatal Vision (KL Studio Classics): The Emmy-winning 1984 true crime miniseries with Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, and Andy Griffith takes its 40th anniversary Blu-ray bow. A landmark of true-crime TV.
Succession: The Complete Series (HBO/WB): The whole messy thing! You will become addicted to these awful, awful people.
