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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
May 27:
Truth About Killer Robots: When a robot kills a human, who takes the blame? An eerie, eye-opening work of science nonfiction, this film considers several automation cases, from a factory in Germany to a bomb-carrying police droid in Dallas, raising questions of accountability and morality. Exploring the provocative viewpoints of engineers, journalists and philosophers, the film goes beyond sensational deaths to examine more subtle but pervasive ways that robots affect humanity. (HBO Download)
May 28:
Captain Marvel: Set in the 1990s, the film revolves around Carol Danvers, a crack air force pilot. Though trials and tribulations she becomes one of the galaxy's mightiest heroes and joins an elite outer space military team known as Starforce. Her membership in the Kree military team puts her in danger when Earth becomes hopelessly stuck in battle between two other alien worlds, forcing Danvers to take on the role of Captain Marvel and use her new powers for the greater good. (DVD, Blu-ray release:June 11)
General Commander: GRS operative Jake Alexander (Steven Seagal) and his team of young recruits go after the most dangerous and notorious criminals with the help of a Hong Kong billionaire. (DVD, Blu-ray release: Day & date)
Skin: Based on an incredible true story. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is a distinctly mixed-race South African woman born to white parents (Sam Neill and Alice Krige) during the apartheid era. Despite her upbringing as a white girl, Sandra is eventually classified as “colored” by the government and stripped of the rights with which the rest of her family is privileged. (Digital only)
Blood
(2018) Two-disc set with six episodes of the Irish psychological crime thriller about the lies that can fracture a family. Cat Hogan (Caroline Main) returns to her hometown following the sudden death of her mother. But when the details about the accident don’t add up, Cat suspects her father (Adrian Dunbar), a well-respected doctor she has distrusted ever since a childhood trauma. Did he have a hand in her mother’s passing, or is Cat really the troublemaker her siblings perceive her to be? As she sets to find out the truth, Cat uncovers secrets long buried and risks destroying what’s left of her family ties. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes featurette. (Acorn Media).
Climax
(2018 -- France) Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Claude Gajan Maull. Another truly unique and sensual vision from filmmaker Gaspar Noé ("Enter the Void") that stirred up a buzz upon its premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. A hypnotic, shock-filled story of a party that descends into delirium over the course of one wintry night. In an empty and remote school building in the 1990s, a French dance troupe has gathered for rehearsal. The rehearsal morphs into a party -- and then turns nightmarish as the dancers discover they've been drinking sangria laced with LSD. Passions and violence erupt as the night moves from jubilation to full-fledged anarchy. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. Extras: “A Visceral Experience: Making Climax” featurette. (Lionsgate).
General Commander
(2019) Steven Seagal, Sonia Couling, Byron Gibson. After CIA agent Jake Alexander (Seagal) sees a member of his team killed during a sting operation, he demands revenge against the guilty mob boss. But the CIA won’t sanction the hit, so Jake and his crew quit the agency and form a task force with just one mission: vengeance. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Lionsgate).
Madame X BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1960) Screen goddess Lana Turner stars in one of the best roles of her career in this stunning and emotional adaptation of Alexandre Bisson's classic play. The ill-fated Holly Parker (Turner) is blackmailed by her evil mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) into leaving her politician husband (John Forsythe) and their baby. Twenty years later, Holly finds herself on trial for her life ... where she is defended by her own son (Keir Dullea). Directed by David Lowell Rich and co-starring Ricardo Montalban, Burgess Meredith, Virginia Grey and Warren Stevens. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: New audio commentary by film historians Lee Gambin and Emma Westwood, theatrical trailer. (Kino Lorber Studio Classics).
The Nun (La Religieuse) BLU-RAY DEBUT
(1965) Restored in 4K from the original negative, Jacques Rivette's "The Nun," initially banned in France, can now be seen in all its revolutionary glory. Adapted from Denis Diderot's novel, it follows a rebellious nun (played by an incandescent Anna Karina) who is forced into taking her vows. Initially shunted into a restrictive, torturous convent, she eventually moves on to a more liberated one, where she becomes an object of Mother Superior's (Liselotte Pulver) obsession. Banned for over a year by the French Minister of Information, and not released in the United States until 1971, it slowly became a landmark of the French New Wave, and with this stunning restoration, should also become an object of worship. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton; booklet essay by Dennis Lim, director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; "La Scandaleuse," a new making-of documentary, trailer. (Kino Classics).
One Sings, the Other Doesn't
(1977) In the early 1960s in Paris, two young women become friends. Pomme is an aspiring singer. Suzanne is a pregnant country girl unable to support a third child. Pomme lends Suzanne the money for an illegal abortion, but a sudden tragedy soon separates them. Over a decade later, they reunite at a demonstration and pledge to keep in touch via postcard, as each of their lives is irrevocably
The Uncanny
(1977) Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, Joan Greenwood, Donald Pleasence, Samantha Eggar, Susan Penhaligon. Wilbur Gray, a horror writer, has stumbled upon a terrible secret, that cats are supernatural creatures who really call the shots. In a desperate attempt to get others to believe him, Wilbur spews three tales of feline horror. Scanned from an inter-negative recently discovered in a London vault.Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: "The Cat's Victim: Interview with Actress Susan Penhaligon," trailer. (Severin Films).
The Unity of Heroes
(2018 -- China) Vincent Zhao, Vini Li Lubing, Chen Chen, Li Bingyuan, Wei Xiaohuan, Xu Zhengguo, Michael Tong. Zhao ("Once Upon A Time in China") reprises his role as legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung in this action-packed adventure in which a highly toxic drug is being distributed across the country by a corrupt pharmaceutical company and Wong Fei Hung and his students must stop the invasion. Formats: DVD Blu-ray/DVD Combo, Digital. (Well Go USA).
A Vigilante
(2018) Olivia Wilde, Morgan Spector, Kyle Catlett. After escaping her violent husband, Sadie (Wilde) makes it her life’s mission to help free others in danger. Now, after months of rigorous training in survival skills, boxing, and lethal martial arts, Sadie is back with a vengeance as an avenger who lives to defend victims of domestic abuse. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital. Extras: “Catharsis: Creating a Vigilante” featurette. (Lionsgate).
Greta
A sweet, naive young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) doesn't think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends -- but Greta's maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta's life is what it seems in this suspense thriller.
Vitals: Director: Neil Jordan. Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Zawe Ashton, Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, Isabelle Huppert, Stephen Rea, Jeff Hiller.
2018, CC, MPAA rating: R, 98 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $10.511 million, Universal.
Extras: Deleted scenes, "Greta: Enemies and Friends"look at the film’s three main characters and their intertwined relationships.
Blue Velvet
(1986) Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their prime suspect, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)-- and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, "Blue Velvet" is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the past few decades. New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray, both supervised by director David Lynch.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Alternate original stereo soundtrack; "Blue Velvet Revisited," a feature-length meditation on the making of the film by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production; "The Lost Footage," 51 minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch; "Mysteries of Love," a 70-minute documentary from 2002 on the making of the film; trailer; more. (The Criterion Collection).
Greta
(2018) Director: Neil Jordan. Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Zawe Ashton, Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, Isabelle Huppert, Stephen Rea, Jeff Hiller.
A young woman befriends a lonely widow who's harboring a dark and deadly agenda toward her. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. Extras: Deleted scenes, "Greta: Enemies and Friends"look at the film’s three main characters and their intertwined relationships. (Universal).
changed by the women's liberation movement. A buoyant hymn to sisterly solidarity rooted in the hard-won victories of a generation of women, "One Sings, the Other Doesn't" is one of Agnès Varda's warmest and most politically trenchant films, a feminist musical for the ages. New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Agnès Varda and cinematographer Charlie Van Damme, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: "Women Are Naturally Creative," a 1977 documentary directed by Katja Raganelli, featuring an interview with Varda shot during the making of the film, plus on-set interviews with actors Valérie Mairesse and Thérèse Liotard; "Réponse de femmes," a 1975 short film by Varda, on the question "What is a woman?"; "Plaisir d'amour en Iran," a 1976 short film by Varda, starring Mairesse and Ali Raffi; trailer; an essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from the film's original press book. (The Criterion Collection).
Penny Points to Paradise
(1961) Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Alfred Marks, Harry Secombe, Bill Kerr, Freddie Frinton. The feature film debut of the legendary Peter Sellers. After a big gambling win, Harry Flakers and his friend Spike Donnelly decide to go to the same shabby seaside boarding house that they have always patronized for their summer holiday, but this year all the other guests (including two young women out to marry money, a dodgy investment adviser and a master forger and assistant) are intent on taking the fortune off them in one way or another. Also includes the 32 minute short "Let's Go Crazy" also starring Sellers in a madcap comedy set in a nightclub combining variety acts with linking comedy sketches. First time ever on disc in North America. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. (Juno Films Selects).
A Record of Sweet Murder
(2014 --Japan/South Korea) Je-wook Yeon, Kkobbi Kim, Tsukasa Aoi. Sang-joon has recently escaped from a mental institution and managed to amass a kill count in the high teens. A South Korean journalist and a Japanese cameraman are invited to an abandoned apartment to interview the murderer. They believe the wanted criminal has committed 18 murders, but the criminal claims he has already killed 25. He furthermore claims that if he completes the killing of all 27 on his list, not only will his dead friend be resurrected, but also all 27 will come back to life. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. Extras: Stills, trailers. (Unearthed Films).
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May 26, 2019
(ISSN 1094-3676).
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