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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
July 11:
Gifted: A single man raising his child prodigy niece is drawn into a custody battle with his mother. (DVD, Blu-ray release: July 25)
Alive and Kicking
(2016) A high-spirited look inside the resurgence of the international swing dance community that revisits the origins of swing, slides onto the dance floor with competitive modern-day enthusiasts, and examines the positive mental and emotional affects of dancing.
Originating in Harlem during the Great Depression, swing was created to alleviate the economic and social stressors of the 1930s. The film features archival footage and recent interviews with swing legends Norma Miller and the late Frankie Manning, alongside new, vivacious swing dancers making their mark on the dance floor. Formats: DVD. Extras: Commentary with director Susan
Glatzer and director of photography John W. MacDonald, deleted scenes, interview
with Glatzer, theatrical trailer. (Magnolia Home Entertainment).
American Fable
(2016) Peyton Kennedy, Richard Schiff, Gavin Macintosh, Kip Pardu, Marci Miller. A dark, dreamlike mystery plays out amid the expansive farmlands of the American Midwest. With her family's livelihood imperiled by the farm crisis of the 1980s, 11-year-old Gitty loses herself in a world of fantasy and make-believe. But she stumbles into her own fairytale when she makes a startling discovery: a well-dressed mystery man being held captive in her family's silo. Thus begins a labyrinthine journey that will turn Gitty's world upside down and force her to question her loyalty to her own family. Formats: DVD. (IFC Films).
Caillou: Things That Go!
(2016) Thirteen stories from the PBS KIDS series as Caillou takes his first plane ride and as he explores, and helps steer, a big sailboat. In the new DVD, Caillou also takes the subway with his mother, watches a big bulldozer at a construction site, and rides the school bus for the first time. Formats: DVD. (PBS Distribution).
Devil's Domain
(2016) Michael Madsen, Sticky Fingers, Fred Rose, Rene Nezhola. A
new-age horror film centered on a cyber-bullying incident at a
fictional high school that goes terribly wrong. The victim then seeks
her own unique form of revenge, albeit with some super-natural help
along the way. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital.
(Cleopatra Entertainment/MVD Entertainment).
Do You Take This Man
(2016) Anthony Rapp, Jonathan Bennett, Alyson Hannigan, Thomas Dekker,
Mackenzie Astin. An intimate group of friends and family gather at the
home of two gay men (Anthony Rapp and Jonathan Bennett) to celebrate
their nuptials and when the wedding hits a snag, they help the grooms
to see that all marriages have their challenges, and love is just the
beginning. Formats: DVD, VOD.
(Breaking Glass Pictures).
The Fate of the Furious
(2017) Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Scott Eastwood, Jordana Brewster, Kurt Russell, Helen Mirren, Michelle Rodriguez, Elsa Pataky, Nathalie Emmanuel, Lucas Black, Kristofer Hivju, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris. When a mysterious woman named the Cipher seduces Dom into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo,, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "All About the Stunts," extended fight scenes, feature commentary with director F. Gary Gray.Blu-ray adds "The Cuban Spirit": As the first major studio motion picture to shoot in Cuba in decades, the country's effusive spirit permeates the making of the film; "In the Family"; "Car Culture" puts viewers into the driver's seat of the supercharged vehicles showcased in film. Director's extended cut on Digital versions. (Unversal).
Game Changers
(2016) Brian Bernys, Jake Albarella. Lifelong friends Bryan and Scott were e-sports legends, and their identity had always been tied to their notoriety as professional garners. Now, in their late 20's and working together at a failing IT company, they begin to feel the responsibilities of adulthood sinking in. Hungry for the fame that now eludes them, Bryan will do anything to reclaim his status as a pro gamer, and though Scott doesn't identify with the circuit like he used to, he agrees to help assemble a squad of top tier players in order to get back to the top of the pro gaming world. But how far will the pair go as they seek e-sports notoriety -- and at what cost?
Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. (Candy Factory Films).
L'argent
(1983 -- France) In his ruthlessly clear-eyed final film, French master Robert Bresson pushed his unique blend of spiritual rumination and formal rigor to a new level of astringency. Transposing a Tolstoy novella to contemporary Paris, "L’argent" follows a counterfeit bill as it originates as a prop in a schoolboy prank, then circulates like a virus among the corrupt and the virtuous alike before landing with a young truck driver and leading him to incarceration and violence. With brutal economy, Bresson constructs his unforgiving vision of original sin out of starkly perceived details, rooting his characters in a dehumanizing material world that withholds any hope of transcendence.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc with a new, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Extras: Press conference from the 1983 Cannes Film Festival; “L’argent, A to Z," a new video essay by film scholar James Quandt; trailer; an essay by critic Adrian Martin and a newly expanded 1983 interview with director Robert Bresson by critic Michel Ciment.
(The Criterion Collection).
London Heist
(2016) Craig Fairbrass, James Cosmo, Mem Ferda, Steven Berkoff, Nick Moran. Jack Cregan (Fairbrass) -- career criminal, family man, and vicious armed robber -- is on a mission for revenge. When Jack's father, Alfie Cregan (Berkoff), is brutally murdered, and the money from their Heathrow airport heist is stolen, Jack, his cousin Sammy, and gang members Eddie and Frank realize there is more to the stolen money and Alfie's murder than meets the eye -- and, once Jack starts digging, he knows that his life will never be the same again. The shattering revelations that follow force Jack, with the clock ticking, to not only pull off one last dangerous robbery, but also to exact brutal revenge on all those involved. Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital. (Lionsgate).
Norman
(2016) Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Hank Azaria, Steve Buscemi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michael Sheen, Dan Stevens, Harris Yulin, Josh Charles. Norman Oppenheimer (Gere) lives a lonely life in the margins of New York City power and money; his incessant networking leads him nowhere, but he does befriend a young but charismatic politician Micha Eshel (Ashkenazi) at a low point in his life. Three years later, the politician becomes an influential world leader, and Norman attempts to use Eshel’s name to leverage his biggest deal ever: a series of quid pro quo transactions linking the Prime Minister to Norman’s nephew (Sheen), a rabbi (Buscemi), a mogul (Yulin), his assistant (Stevens), and a treasury official from the Ivory Coast. Norman’s kaleidoscopic plans soon go awry, creating the potential for an international catastrophe he must struggle to prevent. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital. Extras: "Norman: Making the Connection" red carpet cast and crew interviews, "An Evening with Norman" Q & A with director Joseph Cedar and actor Richard Gere. (Sony).
The Penguin Counters
(2016) Armed with low-tech gear and high-minded notions that penguin
populations hold the key to human survival, Ron Naveen lays bare his
30 year love affair with the world’s most pristine scientific
laboratory: Antarctica. THE PENGUIN COUNTERS follows Ron and his
ragtag team of field biologists to one of the harshest corners of the
planet, where they track the impact of climate change and ocean health
by counting penguin populations. The documentary takes us from the tip
of Argentina to the ominous Deception Island on a treacherous yet
heartwarming journey by a 21st century Dr. Doolittle who dreams of
conserving this stunning but fragile region for future generations.
Formats: DVD.
(First Run Features).
Prime Suspect: Tennison
(2017) Two-disc set with all six episodes. A prequel to one of the most innovative crime series in television history, starring Stefanie Martini as the rookie WPC (Woman Police Constable) Jane Tennison -- the iconic role immortalized by Helen Mirren. Set in 1973 amid the sounds of the pop tunes of the day, the show opens with Jane a newly minted WPC (Woman Police Constable), performing her probationary stint at Hackney Police Station in East London. Relegated to traffic incidents, dispatching, and other routine police chores -- in addition to serving the senior officers tea -- she gets her big break when a murder case of a young girl calls for an all-hands-on-deck investigation.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. (PBS Distribution).
Pulse
(2001 -- Japan) Award-winning filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivered
one of the finest entries in the "J-Horror" cycle of films with this
moody and spiritually terrifying film that delivers existential dread
along with its frights. Setting his story in the burgeoning internet
and social media scene in Japan, Kurosawa's dark and apocalyptic film
foretells how technology will only serve to isolate us as it grows
more important to our lives. A group of young people in Tokyo begin to
experience strange phenomena involving missing co-workers and friends,
technological breakdown, and a mysterious website which asks the
compelling question, "Do you want to meet a ghost?" After the
unexpected suicides of several friends, three strangers set out to
explore a city which is growing more empty by the day, and to solve
the mystery of what lies within a forbidden room in an abandoned
construction site, mysteriously sealed shut with red packing tape.
Featuring haunting cinematography by Junichiro Hayashi ("Ring," "Dark
Water"), a dark and unsettling tone that lingers long after the movie
is over, and an ahead-of-its-time story that anticipates 21st century
disconnection and social media malaise, "Pulse" is one of the greatest
and most terrifying achievements in modern Japanese horror, and a dark
mirror for our contemporary digital world.
Formats: DVD/Blu-ray Combo with Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on
the Blu-ray). Extras: New
interview with writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa; new interview with
cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi; "The Horror of Isolation": a new
video appreciation featuring Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett ("Blair
Witch," "You're Next"); archive "Making of" documentary, plus four
archive behind-the-scenes featurettes; premiere footage from the
Cannes Film Festival; cast and crew introductions from opening day
screenings in Tokyo; trailers and TV Spots; reversible sleeve
featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket.
(Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment).
A Quiet Passion
(2017) Dir.: Terence Davies; Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, Keith Carradine. Biographical portrait of the life of 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson (Nixon), whose genius only came to be recognized after her death. It begins with Dickinson’s early days as a young schoolgirl and the growth of her wit, intellectual independence and sense of pathos that fueled her work. Dickinson's deep attachment to her close-knit family and the manners, mores and spiritual convictions of her time that she struggled with and transcended in her poetry are subsequently examined, leading to her later years as a brilliant but reclusive and unrecognized artist.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD. Extras: Q&A with Terence Davies and Cynthia Nixon; behind the scenes of "A Quiet Passion," including interviews with cast and crew; collector’s Booklet with interviews,
photos and a critical essay. (Music Box Films).
Rake, Series 2
(2012) Three-disc set with all eight episodes of the award-winning Aussie legal dramedy. Sharp-witted, but self-destructive solicitor Cleaver Greene (Richard Roxburgh) faces new challenges. In Series 2, Cleaver makes a bitter enemy of the powerful new Attorney General, Cal McGregor (Damien Garvey), when Cleaver is caught having an affair with his wife (Toni Collette). Cleaver’s paramour, Missy (Adrienne Pickering), causes a scandal with a memoir about her life as a prostitute, and his best friend’s wife, Scarlet (Danielle Cormack), can’t forgive Cleaver for the damage he caused to her marriage.
Formats: DVD. Extras: Bloopers, “5 Minutes with Cleaver Greene,” behind-the-scenes featurette. (Acorn Media).
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy BLU-RAY DEBUT
Roberto Rossellini is one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. And it was with his trilogy of films made during and after World War II -- "Rome Open City" (1945), "Paisan" (1946), and "Germany Year Zero" (1948) -- that he left his first transformative mark on cinema. With their stripped-down aesthetic, largely nonprofessional casts, and unorthodox approaches to storytelling, these intensely emotional works were international sensations and came to define the neorealist movement. Shot in battle-ravaged Italy and Germany, these three films are some of our most lasting, humane documents of devastated postwar Europe, containing universal images of both tragedy and hope. Special Edition three-disc set with new high-definition digital restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks. Extras: Introductions by Roberto Rossellini to all three films; interviews from 2009 with Rossellini scholar Adriano Aprà, film critic and Rossellini friend Father Virgilio Fantuzzi, and filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani; audio commentary from 2009 on "Rome Open City" by film scholar Peter Bondanella; "Once Upon a Time ... Rome Open City,” a 2006 documentary on the making of this historic film, featuring rare archival material and footage of Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini, Ingrid Bergman, and many others; "Rossellini and the City," a 2009 video essay by film scholar Mark Shiel on Rossellini’s use of the urban landscape in "The War Trilogy"; excerpts from rarely seen videotaped discussions Rossellini had in 1970 about his craft with faculty and students at Rice University; "Into the Future," a 2009 video essay about "The War Trilogy" by film scholar Tag Gallagher; "Roberto Rossellini," a 2001 documentary by Carlo Lizzani, assistant director on "Germany Year Zero," tracing Rossellini’s career through archival footage and interviews with family members and collaborators, with tributes by filmmakers François Truffaut and Martin Scorsese; "Letters from the Front: Carlo Lizzani on Germany Year Zero,” a podium discussion with Lizzani from the 1987 Tutto Rossellini conference; Italian credits and prologue from "Germany Year Zero"; essays by James Quandt, Irene Bignardi, Colin McCabe, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. (The Criterion Collection).
Smurfs: The Lost Village
(2017) Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBrayer, Danny Pud, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter, Mandy Patinkin, Julia Roberts. In this fully animated, all-new take on the Smurfs, a mysterious map sets Smurfette and her friends Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty on an exciting race through the Forbidden Forest leading to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Filmmaker commentary, Meghan Trainor “I'm A Lady” music video, "The Emoji" movie sneak peek, 11 featurettes. Blu-ray adds deleted scenes and an additional featurette. (Sony).
Species Collector’s Edition
(1995) Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge. When a beautiful human-alien hybrid (Henstridge) escapes from observation, scientist Xavier Fitch (Kingsley) dispatches a crew of experts to find her before she is able to fulfill her horrific purpose: to mate with unsuspecting men and produce offspring that could destroy mankind. New 4K scan of the film’s inter-positive.
Formats: Two-disc Blu-ray set. Extras: Commentary with Henstridge, Madsen and director Roger Donaldson; commentary with Donaldson, make-up effects creator Steve Johnson, visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund and producer Frank Mancuso Jr.; new "Afterbirth: The Evolution of Secies" featurette; "From Sil to Eve" an interview with Henstridge; "Engineering Life" featurette; "HR Giger at Work"; "The Making Of Species: The Origin, The Concept, The Discovery"; "Designing a Hybrid"; theatrical trailer; alternate ending; photo galleries (production design, creature designs, film stills, behind-the-scenes photos, posters and lobby cards). (Scream Factory).
Terror in a Texas Town
(1958) For his 41st and final feature film, Joseph H. Lewis was able to combine the two genres in which he had excelled. The man in the director's chair for "My Name is Julia Ross," "Gun Crazy" and "The Big Combo," Lewis was one of the all-time greats in film noir. But he was also a fine director of Westerns, having made "A Lawless Street," "7th Cavalry" and "The Halliday Brand," all of which -- especially the last -- remain underrated. "Terror in a Texas Town" would bring his noir sensibilities to the American West, resulting in one of his finest works. McNeil (Sebastian Cabot) is a greedy hotel owner who wants to take control of Prairie City, the Texas town of the title. Keen to drive the local farmers of their land, McNeil hires a gunman, Johnny Crale (Nedrick Young, who would pen the Oscar-winning screenplay for "The Defiant Ones" the same year), resulting in the death of a former whaler. The dead man's son, George Hansen (Sterling Hayden), arrives in town to inherit the farm and set the stage for revenge -- armed with only his father's old harpoon. "Terror in a Texas Town" was written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten blacklisted by the film industry and forced to write under pseudonyms or to use "fronts." Two years before he helped break the blacklist with on-screen credits for Otto Preminger's "Exodus" and Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus," his work was credited to Ben Perry, but it demonstrates a psychological depth and political dimension that is undoubtedly that of Trumbo. Brand-new 2K restoration from original film elements produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release. Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM Audio. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Introduction by Peter Stanfield, author of "Hollywood, Westerns and the 1930s: The Lost Trail" and "Horse Opera: The Strange History of the Singing Cowboy"; scene-select commentaries by Stanfield; theatrical trailer; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov. First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Glenn Kenny. (Arrow Academy/MVD Entertainment).
Their Finest
(2016) Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Jack Huston, Helen McCrory, Eddie Marsan, Richard E. Grant, Bill Nighy. During wartime London, a former secretary, newly appointed as a scriptwriter for propaganda films, joins the cast and crew of a major production while the Blitz rages around them. Based on the best-selling novel by Lissa Evans. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: “Flickers of Hope: The Making of Their Finest” featurette, commentary with director Lone Scherfig. (Lionsgate).
Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
(2017) New animated movie. Based on the beloved children’s book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," by Roald Dahl, and the iconic musical family film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," this new adaptation adds Tom and Jerry’s antics to the classic story of young Charlie Bucket’s unforgettable visit to Willy Wonka’s marvelous chocolate factory.
Formats: DVD, Digital. Extras: Five bonus "Tom and Jerry" episodes.
(Warner).
The Tunnel: Sabotage Season 2
(2016) Three-disc set with all eight episodes. Eighteen months on from the devastating conclusion of Season 1, the newly promoted Commander Wassermann (Clémence Poésy) and the grieving DCI Roebuck (Stephen Dillane) have been leading separate lives until two seemingly isolated events bring them back together; a plane crash in the English Channel, killing everyone on board and a couple abducted from The Tunnel, leaving behind their traumatized child. On the surface the two cases appear to be unconnected. But as the ensuing investigation moves between the coasts of Kent and northern France, it reveals the murderous crusade of a terrorist cell. As Wassermann and Roebuck pick their way through the clues thrown up by a vast field of debris, forging connections as they go, they are confronted with sinister and complicated forces at play. In a terrifying game of brinksmanship, they risk everything in the pursuit of true justice. Based on the original hit Swedish series from Filmlance International, “The Bridge.” Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Digital. (PBS Distribution).
Underground: Season Two
(2017) Three-disc set with all 10 episodes. Season Two continues to draw inspiration from America’s historical roots, bringing pioneering hero and infamous conductor, Harriet Tubman, to life along with renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In one of history’s greatest escape stories, the Macon 7 face endless challenges in their dangerous escape to freedom within a divided America on the brink of civil war.
Formats: DVD. Extras: gag reel, deleted scenes. (Sony).
Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past
(2016) What does it take to keep Jazz Age music going strong in the
21st century? Two words: Vince Giordano -- a bandleader, musician,
historian, scholar, collector, and NYC institution. For nearly 40
years, Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks have brought the joyful
syncopation of the 1920s and ‘30s to life with their virtuosity,
vintage musical instruments, and more than 60,000 period band
arrangements. This beautifully crafted documentary offers an intimate
and energetic portrait of a truly devoted musician and
preservationist, taking us behind the scenes of the recording of HBO’s
Grammy award-winning Boardwalk Empire soundtrack, and alongside
Giordano as he shares his passion for hot jazz with a new generation
of music and swing-dance fans. Formats: DVD, VOD, Digital.
(First Run Features).
A Woman, A Part
(2016) Maggie Siff, John Ortiz, Cara Seymour. An exhausted, workaholic actress, Anna Baskin, 44, abruptly extricates herself from a successful but mind-numbing TV role, returning to her past life in New York to reinvent herself. Formats: DVD. Extras: Interview with director Elisabeth Subrin, original theatrical trailer. (Strand Releasing).
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