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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
September 19:
Footnotes: Inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen, this musical comedy follows a young woman who must dance between a budding romance, a scheming boss, and co-workers on strike at her new job in a luxury shoe factory. (VOD only)
Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season
(2016-17) Five-disc DVD, four-disc Blu-ray set with all 23 episodes.
In Season Five, newly appointed Mayor Oliver Queen finds himself
challenged as he fights on two fronts for the future of Star City.
With his right hand, John Diggle, back in the military and his sister
Thea adamant about hanging up her vigilante hood as Speedy, Team Green
Arrow is down to just Oliver and Felicity -- but they're no longer the
only vigilantes in town. Green Arrow's public defeat of Damien Darhk
at the end of Season Four has inspired a new crop of masked heroes to
step up and defend the city, though their painful inexperience makes
them obstacles rather than allies in the field.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital,
UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Arrow: 2016 Comic-Con Panel,
"The New Team Arrow," "Allied: The Invasion Complex (Arrow),"
"Returning to the Roots of Arrow: Prometheus," deleted scenes, gag
reel. (Warner).
The Big Sick
(2017) Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar. Rom-com tells the story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail, who connects with grad student Emily after one of his standup sets. Based on the real-life courtship between Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "A Personal Journey: The Making of The Big Sick" featurette; "The Real Story" featurette; 2017 SXSW Film Festival panel;
cast & filmmaker commentary with actor-writer Kumail Nanjiani, writer Emily V. Gordon, producer Barry Mendel and director Michael Showalter; "The Big Sick: The Other Stuff," deleted scenes, "The Bigger Sick: Stick Around for More Laughs." (Lionsgate).
Body of Deceit
(2015 - Italy) Kristanna Loken, Antonio Cupo, Saria Givaty, Guilio Berruti. With the inviting, seductive Mediterranean Sea as its backdrop, this psychological thriller begins as Alice (Loken) -- a ghostwriter for a famous novelist -- tries to put the pieces of her life back together after being in a coma for two weeks after a fatal car accident. She now suffers from amnesia and must complete the novel she began for her best-selling author client prior to her accident. However, with her depression and recurrent, cryptic nightmares, she can’t focus and is having difficulty completing the novel. Her husband and agent, Max, takes her from their home in Los Angeles to their private villa in Malta to finish the book. But Malta is where Alice’s car accident took place, and Max hopes this will unblock her mind so she can start working again to meet the publisher’s deadline. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital. (FilmRise).
By the Time it Gets Dark
(2016 -- Thailand) Winner of Thailand National Film Association (Thai Oscars)'s Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing, the delicately poetic second feature by Thai director Anocha Suwichakornpong weaves together multiple stories and characters to create a portrait of a beautiful country haunted by the lingering trauma of the 1976 government-sanctioned massacre of student demonstrators in Bangkok. A shape-shifting narrative, the film delves into the intersection of memory, politics, and cinema. Formats: DVD. (Icarus Films).
Cartels
(2017) Steven Seagal, Luke Goss, Georges St-Pierre. A team of DEA agents get a special assignment -- shadow a drug kingpin-turned informant to keep him safe from harm -- but the tables are turned when the drug lord's former gang decides to try to take him out. When crime boss Salazar turns informant, U.S. Marshal Jensen (Goss) and his team must guard their luxury-hotel safehouse. But as cartel underboss Sinclaire (St-Pierre) and his hit squads descend to murder Salazar, the situation explodes. Enraged, agent Harrison (Seagal) will stop at nothing to root out the mole that compromised the operation. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). (Lionsgate).
Certain Women
(2016) The expanses of the American West take center stage in this
intimately observed triptych from Kelly Reichardt. Adapted from three
short stories by Maile Meloy and unfolding in self-contained but
interlocking episodes, "Certain Women" navigates the subtle shifts in
personal desire and social expectation that unsettle the circumscribed
lives of its characters: a lawyer (Laura Dern) forced to subdue a
troubled client; a woman (Michelle Williams) whose plans to construct
her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a night-school
teacher (Kristen Stewart) who forms a tenuous bond with a lonely ranch
hand (Lily Gladstone), whose unguardedness and deep attachment to the
land deliver an unexpected jolt of emotional immediacy. With
unassuming craft, Reichardt captures the rhythms of daily life in
small-town Montana through these fine-grained portraits of women
trapped within the landscape's wide-open spaces.
On DVD and Blu-ray, with a new 2K digital transfer, supervised by
director Kelly Reichardt and cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt,
with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Extras: New interviews
with the film's cast and crew, including Reichardt and executive
producer Todd Haynes; new interview with Maile Meloy, author of the
stories on which the film is based; trailer; an essay by critic Ella
Taylor. (The Criterion Collection).
Cinema Novo
(2016 -- Brazil) Winner of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival's Best Documentary, "Cinema Novo" is a film essay that poetically investigates the eponymous Brazilian film movement, the most prominent in Latin America in the past century, through the analysis of its main auteurs: Nelson Pereira do Santos, Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Ruy Guerra, Cacá Diegue, Walter Lima Jr, Paulo César Saraceni, among others. Formats: DVD. (Icarus Films).
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 40th Anniversary Edition
(1977) New 4K restoration available on three-disc 4K Ultra HD, a Limited Edition three-disc 4K Ultra HD “Light and Sound” Gift Set, and in high-def on two-disc remastered Blu-ray. The highly collectible Limited Edition Gift Set features illuminated packaging that plays the iconic 5-tone motif. Also included is an expanded booklet with rare archival photos. Both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases include all three restored versions of the film, including the 1977 theatrical version, the 1980 Special Edition and the 1997 Director’s Cut. In addition to the legacy bonus materials, the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" Blu-ray comes with new bonus content, including rare, never-before-seen home movies and gags from the set, and the all-new featurette “Three Kinds of Close Encounters.” This featurette includes a new interview with director Steven Spielberg on the legacy of the film, as well as new interviews with directors J.J. Abrams and Denis Villeneuve on the impact of Close Encounters. (Sony).
Glory
(2016 -- Bulgaria) Frank Capra by way of Bulgaria, "Glory," the third collaboration between directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov ("Jump," "The Lesson") starts with a simple premise, but deepens into a portrait of a bureaucracy riven with cynicism, and a government happy to swallow its most idealistic citizens whole. When Tsanko Petrov (Stefan Denolyubov), a stuttering, scraggle-bearded railroad linesman discovers millions of dollars on some rural train tracks, he decides to turn the entire amount over to the police. The authorities, ever grateful, reward him with a televised ceremony and a new wristwatch. But when the glitzy new watch stops working, Julia Staikova (Margita Gosheva), the workaholic PR head of the corrupt Ministry of Transport, can't seem to find Petrov's old watch, a family heirloom. And, as Tsanko's humble reality collides with a bureaucracy determined to use his "heroism" to distract the public from an emerging scandal, he desperately struggles to recover both his old watch and his dignity. Funny and sad at the same time, bursting with life, with superb direction and acting. A must see. Formats: DVD. Extras: Bonus Short Film: Academy Award-Winner Best Live Action Short "Helium" (directed by Anders Walter, Danish with English subtitles), in which hospital janitor Enzo weaves stories of a magical universe that bring solace and joy to a young, terminally ill patient. (Film Movement).
Hana-Bi (Fireworks)
(1997 -- Japan) Directed and written by and starring Takeshi Kitano. Former police officer Nishi feels responsible for the shattered lives of his loved ones. His partner Horibe has been crippled in a disastrous stakeout, a colleague is shot dead by the same villain, and his own wife has a terminal illness. In debt to a yakuza loanshark, Nishi conceives a bank robbery to provide for his partner, help the dead cop's widow, and take one last holiday throughout Japan with his wife and share a final taste of happiness. The yakuza, however, are not so easily bought off, sending Nishi down a road paved with nihilism and violence. Considered Kitano's first true cinematic masterpiece. Restored in HD. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Commentary by Rolling Stone film critic David Fear, "making-of" featurette, collector's booklet featuring a new essay by film writer Jasper Sharp. (Film Movement Classics).
The Hero
(2017) Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Katharine Ross, Nick Offerman, Katharine Ross. A former Western icon re-evaluates his life, his image and more importantly his heart after a surprise diagnosis. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Audio commentary with writer-director Brett Haley and Sam Elliott, photo gallery.
(Lionsgate).
Jesús
(2016 -- Spain) Nicolás Durán, Alejandro Goic, Sebastián Ayala, Gastón Salgado. Based on true events, the drama follows 18-year-old Jesús, trapped in a dead-end cycle of drugs, sex, apathy, and an obsession with violence. Living in a small flat with his widower father, Hector, where the TV covers up their inability to communicate, is not helping matters. After his band loses a competition, Jesús and his friends get drunk and head out, looking for a thrill. They finally find it in a cemetery: a young defenseless boy crosses their path, and violence ensues. Soon, the attack is national news, and the police are searching for those responsible. Desperate to avoid the authorities as well as his friends, Jesús has no choice but to turn to his father for help. But, when the flesh of your flesh is rotten, will you go to any extent to protect it, or will you cut it loose? Formats: DVD, VOD. (Breaking Glass Pictures).
Lethal Weapon: The Complete First Season
(2016-17) Four-disc DVD, three-disc Blu-ray set with all 18 episodes.
Based on the hit movie franchise, Lethal Weapon, tells the story of a
slightly unbalanced former Navy SEAL joining forces with a veteran
detective as partners on the Los Angeles police force.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud).
Extras: "Reloading Lethal
Weapon" featurette, uncensored extended pilot episode, deleted scenes,
gag reel.
(Warner).
Madam Secretary: Season Three
(2016-17) Six-disc set with all 23 episodes of the series that stars Tea Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy, battles office politics and circumvents protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home. A college professor and former CIA analyst, Elizabeth returned to public life at the request of President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine), who values McCord's apolitical leanings, deep knowledge of the Middle East, flair for languages and ability to not just think outside the box, but to not even acknowledge there is a box. McCord's team includes chief of staff Nadine Tolliver (Bebe Neuwirth); policy advisor Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus); speechwriter Matt Mahoney (Geoffrey Arend); press coordinator Daisy Grant (Patina Miller); and charming assistant, Blake Moran (Erich Bergen). McCord's debates on third world problems at work and her battles with the president's combative chief of staff, Russell Jackson (Zeljko Ivanek), are just a warm-up for when she goes to where "politics" and "compromise" take on new meaning, home to her husband, theology professor turned intelligence operative Henry (Tim Daly), and their three children. Formats: DVD. Extras: "A Day In The Life: An Inside Look at Madam Secretary: Season Three," extended and deleted scenes. (CBS/Paramount).
The Moderns [Collector's Edition]
(1988) Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Linda Fiorentino, John Lone, Geneviève Bujold, Wallace Shawn. Paris, 1926. A time when anything could happen -- and usually did. At the center of this world is Nick Hart (Carradine), a struggling painter who makes a meager living drawing caricatures at his favorite café. Nick longs for success and even agrees to forge masterpieces for a wealthy divorcée (Chaplin). But what he truly desires is Rachel (Fiorentino), the alluring wife of an obsessively jealous and lethally dangerous businessman (John Lone). A stylish and witty exploration of the manners and mores within a lost generation. New 2K scan from the interpositive. Formats: Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New interviews with director Alan Rudolph, producer Carolyn Pfeiffer, and actor Keith Carradine. (Shout! Factory).
The Prison
(2017 -- South Korea) Kim Rae-won, Han Suk-kyu. A troubled former police inspector is sentenced to prison for a hit-and-run accident, placing him with other inmates that he had put behind bars. While inside, he discovers the entire penitentiary is controlled by an inmate who is running a crime syndicate with the help of the warden and guards, which provides them the perfect alibi. Looking for revenge against the system that placed him inside, he joins the syndicate. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. (Well Go USA).
Road Less Traveled
(2017) Lauren Alaina, Charlene Tilton, Jason Burkey, Donny Boaz. Alaina is fresh off a Country hit with her single "Road Less Traveled," from her hit album of the same name in early 2017. Here she plays country music artist Charlotte, who comes back home to Tennessee a week before she's set to get married, hoping to borrow her late mother's wedding dress from her grandmother. But when she runs into her high school sweetheart, Ray, sparks begin to fly. As emotions with Ray get complicated and her record label pressures her to write a new hit song, Charlotte questions if she ever should have left Tennessee in the first place and if she's even marrying the right man. Formats: DVD. (Shout! Factory).
Timeless: Season One
(2016-17) Four-disc set with all 16 episodes. A history professor
(Abigail Spencer), a soldier (Matt Lanter) and a scientist (Malcolm
Barrett), chase a dangerous fugitive (Goran Višnjic) with plans to
re-write American history after he steals a secret experimental time
machine. Running with the likes of Bonnie and Clyde, Ian Fleming and
Al Capone, the team -- using the machine's prototype -- must make
every effort not to affect the past themselves as they jump through
time in this unique historical fiction/sci-fi series.
Formats: DVD. Extras: Deletes scenes, gag reel.
(Sony).
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Johnny and Friends: The Complete Collection
Ten-disc set with 27+ hours of the best episodes from the '70s, '80s and '90s -- including original commercials -- bringing together Carson's greatest guests:
Robin Williams, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Burt Reynolds, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Hope, Don Rickles, Dolly Parton, Eddie Murphy, Bob Newhart, Tony Bennett and many, many more. Carefully selected from the vaults by Carson archivists. The set is comprised of three distinct collections: "Johnny and Friends" (six discs; some previously available at retail); "The Ultimate Carson Collection" (three discs -- never before available at retail) with "The Best of the '60s & '70s," "The Best of the '70s & '80s" and "The Best of the '80s & '90s"; "Three Decades of Christmas on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (single disc -- never before available at retail). Also included is a specially-produced 28-page memory book filled with rare archival photos and nearly two hours of bonus features. Formats: DVD: $99.99. (Time Life).
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: The Vault Series, Volumes 1-6
Six disc-set of comedy and unforgettable moments from 12 complete, unedited shows (with commercials). Includes some of the most requested shows ever: Carson's 10th and 11th anniversary shows, Johnny's birthday episodes, and others, with an incredible collection of guests, including Dean Martin, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Bob Hope, Dom DeLuise, John Denver, Peter Fonda, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, Michael Landon, Billy Crystal, Paul McCartney, Orson Welles, Muhammad Ali and many, many more.
Formats: DVD: $59.95. Extras: Interview with Peaches Jones and stunt demonstration (1972), interviews with David Letterman and Joe Piscopo (1987), interview with Lucille Ball (1975), show opening, monologue and desk with Johnny and Ed (1976), a visit from Joan Embery and Rodney Dangerfield (1976), sketch and James Brown performance and interview (1973). (Time Life).
The Treasure
(2015 - Romania) A hunt for buried treasure sends two men on a surprising comic caper in this Cannes prize-winning charmer from acclaimed director Corneliu Porumboiu ("Police, Adjective," "12:08 East of Bucharest"). Costi (Cuzin Toma) is a workaday family man whose cash-strapped next-door neighbor (Adrian Purcarescu) makes him an intriguing proposition: help him find the fortune reportedly buried somewhere on the grounds of his family's country home and split the profits. But as the two men dig, they unearth more than they bargained for, excavating not only dirt, but traces of Romania's often tumultuous history. Part modern-day fable, part profound social commentary.
Formats: DVD. (IFC Films).
The Vietnam War
(2017) Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, the lavish documentary is an immersive narrative that tells the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. "The Vietnam War" features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides. Ten years in the making, the series brings the war and the chaotic epoch it encompassed viscerally to life. Written by Geoffrey C. Ward, produced by Sarah Botstein, Novick and Burns, it includes rarely seen, digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and revelatory audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations. Features new, original music written and recorded by Academy Award-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The film also features new music arranged and performed by Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble. The series also features more than 120 popular songs that define the era, including tracks from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, Ben E. King, Phil Ochs, Donovan, Johnny Cash, Barry McGuire, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Otis Redding, Santana, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, The Temptations, Booker T. and the M.G.s, Pete Seeger and more. 10-disc set comprising nine hours. The series airs on PBS September 17--September 21 & September 24--September 28.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: (PBS Distribution).
Wonder Woman
(2017) Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner, Lucy Davis, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Eugene Brave Rock, Saïd Taghmaoui. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, 3D/Blu-ray Combo, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "Crafting the Wonder" behind-the-scenes production featurette; "A Director's Vision: Themyscira: The Hidden Island"; "A Director's Vision: Beach Battle"; "A Director's Vision: A Photograph Through Time"; "A Director's Vision: Diana in the Modern World"; "A Director's Vision: Wonder Woman at War"; "Warriors of Wonder Woman" featurette on the creation of the Amazon army as the women of "Wonder Woman" transform emotionally and physically into the world's most powerful and heroic warriors; "The Trinity" in which filmmakers and comic book creators explore the legend of Wonder Woman and how she stands shoulder to shoulder with Superman and Batman to create the pillars of the DC Universe; "The Wonder Behind the Camera": the women behind the wonder; "Finding the Wonder Woman Within": award-winning poets and inspiring public figures reveal the impact and importance of DC's heroine; extended scenes; blooper reel. Blu-ray adds "Epilogue: Etta's Mission," in which Etta Candy gets the boys back together for a secret mission that could impact humanity's future. (Warner).
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