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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Breathless BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1983) Richard Gere, Valerie Kaprisky. (Shout! Factory).
Killers
(2014 -- Indonesia/Japan) Kazuki Kitamura, Oka Antarra. A series of horrific murders have just gone viral, posted anonymously by the handsome and seductive Nomura (Kazuki Kitamura) with a taste for torture. Thousands of miles away, disgraced journalist Bayu (Oka Antarra) can't stop watching and in a reckless moment discovers he, too, can kill. One man in Tokyo. One in Jakarta. A serial killer and a vigilante. As the posts multiply and the body count rises, a bizarre and psychotic rivalry begins and the face-to-face showdown that's coming will paint the city in blood. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. (Well Go USA).
Manhattan: Season One
(2014) All 13 episodes of the series set against the backdrop of the mission to build the world's first atomic bomb, following the brilliant but flawed scientists and their families as they
Massacre Gun
(1967 -- Japan) Genre icon Jo Shishido stars in this tense and violent yakuza yarn from genre stalwart and Seijun Suzuki's former assistant, Yasuharu Hasebe. Shishido stars as Kuroda, a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and aspiring boxer Sabura (Jira Okazaki), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious. Strikingly violent for the period and gorgeously photographed in monochrome like genre siblings "Branded to Kill" and "A Colt is My Passport" (Shishido's other films from 1967), "Massacre Gun" is a bold iteration on the genre featuring some stunning compositions and the assured direction of Hasebe. Formats: Blu-ray/DVD Combo. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment).
A Most Violent Year.
(2014) Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Peter Gerety, Ashley Williams, Catalina Sandino Morenoy. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Commentary with writer-director J.C. Chandor and producers Neal Dodson and Anna Gerb, "Behind the Violence" featurette, "A Conversation With Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac" featurette, "The Contagious Nature of Violence: The Origins of a Most Violent Year" featurette, deleted scenes, "Inner(Lionsgate).
The Simon Wiesenthal Collection
Boxed set of documentaries exploring Jewish history: "Genocide" (Academy Award Winner, Best Documentary Feature), "Long Way Home" (Academy Award Winner, Best Documentary Feature), "Liberation," "Echoes That Remain," "Unlikely Heroes," "In Search of Peace," "Ever Again," "I Have Never Forgotten You," "Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny," "It Is No Dream," "The Prime Ministers: Part I and II." $49.98. Formats: DVD. (Cinedigm).
A Most Violent Year
One of the most overlooked films of 2014. Directed as a crime drama by J.C. Chandor ("All Is Lost") and featuring a bravura performance by Oscar Isaac, the film is nothing less than a treatsie on the failure of the American Dream. The story is set in New York City during the winter of 1981 -- statistically the most dangerous year in the city's history -- and wends its way through a maze of corruption plaguing the bankrupt city. The film follows Abel Morales (Isaac), the hard-working owner of Standard Oil, an up and coming heating oil company, as he fends off rivalries, attacks on his family, hijackings of his trucks, loan sharks, and an investigation by an upwardly mobile assistant D.A., all while clinging to a code of honor that threatens to fall by the wayside as he climbs up a morally crooked ladder of success. The film featurees pitch-perfect supporting performances by Jessica Chastain (as Morales' wife), Albert Brooks (as the family lawyer) and David Oyelowo (as the assistant D.A.). Don't miss it. Vitals: Director: J.C. Chandor. Stars: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Peter Gerety, Ashley Williams, Catalina Sandino Morenoy. 2014, CC, MPAA rating: R, 125 min., Crime Drama, Box office gross: $4.604 million, Lionsgate.
Extras: Commentary with writer-director J.C. Chandor and producers Neal Dodson and Anna Gerb, "Behind the Violence" featurette, "A Conversation With Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac" featurette, "The Contagious Nature of Violence: The Origins of a Most Violent Year" featurette, deleted scenes, "Inner City Crew" outtakes, "We Can Cure Violence" public service announcement.
The Immigrant
Ewa Cybulski (Marion Cotillard) and her sister sail to New York from their native Poland in 1921 in search of a new start and the American dream. When they reach Ellis Island, doctors discover that Magda (Angela Sarafyan) is ill, and the two women are separated. Ewa is released onto the mean streets of Manhattan while her sister is quarantined. Alone, with nowhere to turn and desperate to reunite with Magda, Ewa quickly falls prey to Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), a charming
but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution. The arrival of Orlando (Jeremy Renner) -- a dashing stage magician who is also Bruno's cousin -- restores her self-belief and hopes for a brighter future, becoming her only chance to escape the nightmare in which she finds herself.
Vitals: Director: James Gray. Stars: Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner, Angela Sarafyan, Dagmara Dominczyk.
2014, CC, MPAA rating: R, 120 min., Drama-Romance, Box office gross: $1.984 million, Radius-TWC.
The Book of Negroes
(2015) Aunjanue Ellis, Louis Gossett Jr., Cuba Gooding Jr., Lyriq Bent, Jane Alexander, Ben Chaplin, Allan Hawco. Dramatic adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by Lawrence Hill depicts the extraordinary life of Aminata Diallo (Ellis) -- an indomitable African woman who survives against all odds in a world that forever underestimates her. Kidnapped by slave traders in West Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate her way through the American Revolution in New York, the isolated refuge of Nova Scotia and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone, before ultimately securing her freedom in England at the dawn of the 19th century. BET's Top-Rated Original Mini-Series,Formats: DVD, Digital. Extras: "History of the Black Loyalists Society" featurette, "Amistad" featurette, cast interviews, two interviews with author Hill, deleted scenes, 28-page collector's book featuring an exclusive essay from Hill. (Entertainment One).
Home Sweet Hell
(2014) Katherine Heigl, Patrick Wilson, Jordana Brewster, James Belushi, Kevin McKidd. Don Champagne (Patrick Wilson) seems to have it all: a successful business, a perfect house, perfect kids and a perfect wife. Unfortunately, when his wife, Mona (Katherine Heigl), learns of Don's affair with a pretty new salesgirl (Jordana Brewster), this suburban slice of heaven spirals out of control. Don soon realizes that Mona will stop at nothing, including murder, to maintain their storybook life where "perception is everything." Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "Suburban Butchery: Making Home Sweet Hell," two deleted scenes. Blu-ray adds "Champagne Furniture Store Commercial," seven more deleted scenes, outtakes. (Sony).
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital. (Radius-TWC).
attempt to coexist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives. Formats: Four-disc DVD: $49.97, three-disc Blu-ray: $49.98, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "Ground Zero: Bringing the Bomb to Screen" featurette, "P.O. Box 1663: Creating a City that Didn't Exist" featurette, "'Now I Am Become Death': J. Robert Oppenheimer" featurette, "Recreating an Era: Manhattan Costume Design" featurette, select episode commentaries with cast and crew. (Lionsgate).
The Voices
(2014) Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver. A simple, likeable guy trying to do the right thing with the help of his talking pets accidentally winds up as a serial killer. Jerry works nine-to-five at a bathtub factory, with the offbeat charm of anyone who could use a few friends. With the help of his court-appointed psychiatrist, he pursues his office crush but the relationship takes a sudden, murderous turn after she stands him up for a date. Guided by his evil talking cat and benevolent talking dog, Jerry must decide whether to keep striving for normalcy, or indulge in a much more sinister path.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Three "making of" featurettes, VFX behind-the-scenes look, comparison showreel, animatics, sketch gallery, deleted and extended scenes, recording session with Ryan Reynolds as he creates the voices of "Bosco" and "Mr. Whiskers." (Lionsgate).
Yellowbird
(2014) Voices of Seth Green, Dakota Fanning, Danny Glover. A tiny orphaned bird that has never left the nest and has no family is inadvertently chosen to lead a flock on their migration to Africa. Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "Inside the Studio: Recording the Voices for Yellowbird" featurette, "How to Make an Animated Film with Director Christian De Vita" featurette. (Lionsgate).
April 5, 2015
(ISSN 1094-3676).
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