The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE.
What’s New on DVD/Blu-ray/4K in November: Oppenheimer, Barbarella, WandaVision and More
NEW RELEASE WALL
Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment): Yes, it’s what the legendary persnickety Christopher Nolan always wanted – people watching his 70mm on their home systems. But the director’s legendary persnickitiness means that this new 4K release is technically on-point; even those not enamored of his ambitious biopic about the man behind the atomic bomb will no doubt be using this disc to show off the intricacies of their 4K setup (and Dolby sound system).
Also available:
The Equalizer 3 / The Equalizer 3-Movie Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Denzel Washington’s third and final (?) outing as the resourceful retired superspy is available à la carte or in a box set featuring the entire trilogy.
Expend4bles (Lionsgate): Here’s a franchise that should have capped it off with three entries, back for a fourth with another all-star cast of action-flick faves.
Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): In a year of product biopics (Air, Tetris, Flamin’ Hot), this saga of a video-gamer turned real-life race-car driver delivered both viscerally and emotionally, anchored by strong performances by Archie Madekwe (Saltburn) and David Harbour (not to mention a surprisingly emotional supporting turn by Geri Horner, the artist formerly known as Ginger Spice).
A Haunting in Venice (20th Century Studios): Kenneth Branagh’s best outing as Hercule Poirot (as both actor and director) benefits from a very loose adaptation of a lesser-known Agatha Christie novel.
It Lives Inside (Decal Releasing): Bishal Dutta’s horror film, rooted in Indian legend, was a standout in a strong year for the genre.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment): Nia Vardalos and the funky bunch return for a charming third outing, which extends the franchise’s acceptance and understanding of the immigrant experience to refugee populations as well.
Saw X (Lionsgate): No one expects a series to hit its stride on the tenth chapter, but this latest entry somehow became the best-reviewed Saw movie ever.
Spirited Away: Live on Stage (GKIDS): Hayao Miyazaki’s animated classic becomes a delightful stage musical, beautifully captured here (and subtitled in English).
NEW INDIE
The Unknown Country (Music Box Films): Killers of the Flower Moon wasn’t Lily Gladstone’s only triumph this year: She also stars in (and shares a story credit on) this acclaimed indie about a young woman coping with grief and taking a road trip through the American Southwest. Gladstone scored a Gotham nomination as Best Actress for her work here and will likely be likewise honored by the Independent Spirit Awards.
Also available:
Open (Virgil Films): A woman seeks solace from her troubled marriage by falling for a one-time teen idol. You know, as one does.
The Runner (Yellow Veil Pictures): This collections also features other short films and music videos from co-director Jae Matthews.
Warm Blood (Factory 25): Cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (May December, Showing Up) shot this gritty tale of a teenage runaway’s return to Modesto, California, in search of their father.
Warhorse One (Well Go USA Entertainment): Johnny Strong stars in and co-directs this tale of a rescue mission in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
Tori and Lokita (Janus Contemporaries): Two of contemporary cinema’s most eloquent poets of the plight of the poor are Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and their latest film ranks among their most powerful and most gutting. Tori and Lokita are two orphaned refugees in modern-day Belgium who dream of independence, but both are inexorably trapped in a world of petty crime and exploitation. Newcomers Pablo Schils and Joely Mbundu will break your heart; this is one of 2023’s best, and most essential, films.
Also available:
Ashkal (Yellow Veil Pictures): A murder investigation unfolds at a construction site in Carthage, where new buildings are shooting up amid abandoned ruins.
The Eight Mountains (Janus Contemporaries): This moving tale about the friendship between a boy from the city and a boy from the mountains was a hit at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Godland (Janus Contemporaries): The latest from the director of A White, White Day – about a young Danish priest whose spirituality goes adrift as he attempts to build a church in a remote area – is Iceland’s Oscar entry this year.
Journey to the West (Kani Releasing): The editor of a Chinese magazine dedicated to space travel gets one last shot at redemption when an alleged UFO is discovered in a remote village.
Return to Dust (Film Movement): Two middle-aged outcasts forced into an arranged marriage discover a love for each other and for the land as they start a farm on an abandoned piece of property in rural China.
Scrapper (Kino Lorber): Harris Dickinson plays an estranged dad who comes back into the life of his daughter (Lola Campbell, giving a terrific juvenile performance) after her mother’s death in this lovely, prickly family comedy.
Stonewalling (KimStim): This tale of a pregnant college student caps off Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka’s trilogy of films about the lives of young people in contemporary China.
Top Knot Detective (Umbrella Entertainment): This Australian mockumentary goes behind the scenes of a Japanese cult TV show.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Las Leonas (Distrib Films): Six Italian women’s soccer teams – made up mostly of immigrants from South America – compete for the championship. Isabel Achával and Chiara Bondì’s documentary examines the camaraderie of the players, the loneliness and challenges of moving to another part of the world, and the thrill and precision of athletic achievement.
Also available:
Method Sampling: How to Build the Future Together (Cinema Libre Studios): Hip-hop meets classical in this look at innovative musical combo Ensemble Mik Nawooj.
There Goes the Neighborhood (IndiePix): Can gentrification be kept in check? This new documentary examines communities coming together to stave off invading developers.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
Messiah of Evil (Radiance): A fascinating film-history Venn diagram – it’s from Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, whose filmography ranges from American Graffiti to Howard the Duck, and it offers one of the few screen appearances of pioneering queer actor Michael Greer – this atmospheric thriller follows a young woman whose search for her missing father takes her further and further into a terrifying world. This new Blu-ray offers the first 4K scan of the cult favorite, along with a new commentary and other extras.
Also available:
Crocodile Island (Well Go USA Entertainment): When a plane goes down in the “Bermuda Triangle of Asia,” the passengers must face off with man-eating crocs.
Death Wish (Shout Studios): It’s the 4K debut of the Eli Roth remake, starring Bruce Willis.
Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman (Well Go USA Entertainment): There’s a swordsman, and he’s blind, and he wants revenge – it’s all there in the title.
Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar (The Criterion Collection): Chan’s star quality – both as a comedian and a breathtaking martial artist – made itself known early on in films like Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Spiritual Kung Fu, The Fearless Hyena, Fearless Hyena II, The Young Master, and My Lucky Stars.
Neon City (KL Studio Classics): Michael Ironside and Vanity get top billing in this cult fave from actor-turned-director Monte Markham.
Resident Evil 6-Movie Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Relive the saga of the Umbrella Corporation with a new 4K box set.
Scream Queen (Visual Vengeance): This shot-on-video Linnea Quigley vehicle, shot on video and once considered “lost,” makes its Blu-ray debut.
Shredder Orpheus (AGFA): Robert McGinley’s Seattle production retells the Orpheus and Eurydice legend in the world of skateboarders.
The Sonny Chiba Collection, Vol. 2 (Shout Factory): This four-disc set features seven classics from the martial-arts icon: The Defense Power of Aikido, 13 Steps of Maki, Karate Warriors, The Great Okinawa Yakuza War, Karate for Life, Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, and The Okinawa War of Ten Years, plus three new commentary tracks.
Tremors 2: Aftershocks (Arrow): Michael Gross returns, and so do the giant worms.
The Wrong Door (Visual Vengeance): New 2K restoration of the 8mm video-era horror saga, with lots of extras.
NEW CLASSICS
Barbarella (Arrow): The swinging sixties were never sexier in outer space than in this legendary Jane Fonda sci-fi cult fave, making its 4K debut in an extras-packed two-disc set. It’s very much an artefact of its time, but it remains a goofy delight; a game Fonda, modeling a wild parade of fetishistic costumes, and the beautiful blankness of John Philip Law as a blind angel make an unforgettable couple. If you think all comic-book adaptations are Marvel or DC movies, you’ve never seen anything like Barbarella.
Also available:
2 Days in the Valley (KL Studio Classics): Part of the wave of post–Pulp Fiction neo-noirs with large casts of interconnected characters, this very L.A. thriller featured one of the first screen appearances of future Oscar winner Charlize Theron.
American Graffiti (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment): Between the box-office disappointment of THX-1138 and the global smash Star Wars, George Lucas crafted this paean to early-60s car culture that became a massive hit and multiple Oscar nominee, celebrating its 50th anniversary with a new 4K release.
The Aviator’s Wife / Boyfriends and Girlfriends / Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (all Metrograph Pictures): A troika of three charming romantic comedies from the later career of French New Wave master Éric Rohmer.
Benny’s Bathtub (Deaf Crocodile): Young Benny travels down the drain to a trippy alternate universe in this cult Danish animated feature from 1971 that’s been compared to Yellow Submarine and the surrealistic pillows of Sid and Marty Krofft.
Black Hawk Down (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): The gripping Gulf War action saga makes its 4K debut.
Blackhat (Arrow Video): This first 4K release of Michael Mann’s divisive thriller (starring Chris Hemsworth as a legendary hacker) features the US and international edits of the film.
Blue Steel (Lionsgate): The ensuing success of Kathryn Bigelow has encouraged a reevaluation of this early film, starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a rookie cop caught up with the obsessive attentions of Ron Silver.
The Buster Keaton Collection, Vol. 5: Three Ages and Our Hospitality (Cohen Film Collection): More from the legendary silent-comedy auteur.
The Carpetbaggers (KL Studio Classics): Deliciously trashy and star-filled melodrama based on Harold Robbins’ roman-à-clef about Howard Hughes in the early years of Hollywood.
Computer Chess (Kino Lorber): Tenth-anniversary reissue of Andrew Bujalski’s acclaimed 1980s-set comedy.
The Conformist (Raro Video): Bernardo Bertolucci’s lush classic, now available in a new 4K release.
Fargo (Shout Selects): Oh, yah, it’s a 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of the Coen brothers’ beloved comedy-thriller, now available in 4K.
Fögi Is a Bastard (Altered Innocence): Long unavailable in the US, this queer punk romantic tragedy gets a new Blu-ray release, deservedly bringing it to a new generation of viewers.
The Fugitive (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment): Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones face off, for the first time in 4K.
Gator / White Lightning (both KL Studio Classics): Burt Reynolds at his most southern-fried iconic, in this pair of films about moonshine-runners in the swamps.
The Guns of Navarone (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): A new 4K steelbook release of the beloved 1960s WWII action saga starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.
The Hunger Games (Lionsgate): If the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes prequel has whetted your appetite to return to Panem, here’s a new 4K steelbook release of the series’ previous films.
La Cérémonie (The Criterion Collection): One of the final thrillers from the legendary Claude Chabrol was this Ruth Rendell adaptation about two working-class women rebelling against the wealthy family who employs one of them as a housekeeper; the cast includes Isabelle Huppert, Jacqueline Bisset, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Virginie Ledoyen.
La Guerre Est Finie (The Film Desk): In Alain Resnais’ political drama, Yves Montand stars as an aging activist trying to dissuade his young followers (including Ingrid Thulin and Genevieve Bujold) from taking radical action.
Le Combat dans l’Ile (Radiance): Jean-Louis Trintignant plays the wealthy son of an industrial with a secret life as a right-wing terrorist; co-stars Romy Schneider and Henri Serre.
Mean Streets (The Criterion Collection): Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough film still pops with excitement and remains influential to subsequent generations of filmmakers tackling coming-of-age films (including Fast Times at Ridgemont High’s Amy Heckerling, one of many artists and critics contributing interviews to this extras-packed Criterion disc).
The Police Academy Collection (Shout Select): Fans of the franchise – who surely exist – won’t want to miss this box set, which includes new 2K scans of all seven comedies as well as new featurettes and a new commentary track for the fourth entry from film historian Russell Dyball.
Rudy (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): This beloved gridiron tear-jerker celebrates 30 years with a first-ever 4K release.
The Scarlet Letter (Film Masters): A first-ever Blu-ray release of the 1934 adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, starring Colleen Moore and Alan Hale.
Stalag 17 (KL Studio Classics): Billy Wilder’s dark comedy set in a WWII POW camp makes its 4K debut with plenty of extras, including a new commentary track from Wilder expert Joseph McBride.
Terms of Endearment (Paramount Presents): With James L. Brooks back on the filmmaking scene – as executive producer of the acclaimed Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and with a new movie going into production – it’s a great time to revisit his acclaimed, Oscar-winning directorial debut, now available in 4K.
Witness (Arrow Video): Peter Weir’s policier, starring Harrison Ford as a Philadelphia cop hiding out among the Amish, gets a new 4K release with lots of extras (including a vintage Ford interview conducted by the legendary Bobbie Wygant).
NEW TV
WandaVision: The Complete Series (Marvel/Disney): It’s always great when streaming services put their shows and movies out on physical media, and Disney delivers another stunning steelbook of one of its MCU series, with featurettes, deleted scenes, and more. WandaVision sees the grief-stricken Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) navigating the loss of her husband by literally ensconcing herself in vintage sitcom tropes; it remains one of Disney-Marvel’s boldest and most (you’ll pardon the expression) visionary efforts.
Also available:
Farscape: The Complete Series (Shout Factory): The cult series marks its 25th anniversary with a brand-new box set.
For All Mankind: Season One (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Apple TV+’s series about the race to the moon mixes superior storytelling with state-of-the-art visual effects.
The Good Fight: The Complete Series (Paramount Home Entertainment): If The Gilded Age isn’t putting enough Christine Baranski into your life, check her out in legal-shark mode.
Homicide Hills: The Complete Series (MHz Choice): A detective leaves the big city for rural life, but murder is never far behind in this acclaimed comedy-mystery series.
Justified: City Primeval – Season 1 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Timothy Olyphant returns, with Raylan Givens finding as much trouble as ever in his new home of Miami.
Magellan: The Complete Series (MHz Choice): A small-town police inspector juggles murder, mayhem, and raising two teen daughters as a single dad in this French series.
Mongeville: The Complete Series (MHz Choice): This cozy, Bordeaux-set mystery follows a retired judge as he helps the local police solve crimes.
Monk: The Complete First Season (KL Studio Classics): Fans of the neurotic detective will want to snatch up this set, featuring 4K restorations of all 13 episodes of the show’s debut season, plus lots of extras.
My Dress-Up Darling: The Complete Season (Crunchyroll): A nerdy high-schooler with a penchant for creating dolls crosses paths with one of the most popular girls in his class, and their lives are forever changed in this anime series.
The Sandman: The Complete First Season (DC/WB): Neil Gaiman’s occult comic-book hero comes to vivid life in this acclaimed series.
South Park: The Complete 26th Season / South Park: The Streaming Wars (both Paramount Home Entertainment): Those potty-mouthed boys (on both sides of the camera) are still at it, all these decades later.
Spin: The Complete Series (MHz Choice): This French political thriller follows the jockeying for power that follows in the wake of a presidential assassination.
Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection (Paramount Home Entertainment): The acclaimed Patrick Stewart series gets a lavish box-set release that any hardcore Trek fiend will be thrilled to find in their holiday stocking.
Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Anthology (Mill Creek Entertainment): This Blu-ray anthology pays tribute to the 55th anniversary of Ultraman with more than 27 hours of episodes and specials spanning 18 seasons of the iconic Japanese sci-fi adventure.
