Just like Fats Domino’s “Let’s Twist Again,” Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 can’t play the same familiar chords with lesser lyrics and expect the same results. It isn’t quite the revved-up rallying call for outcasts that the first one was, so this sequel is best approached with lower expectations.
Made directly following Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, Rumble Fish has similar young adult coming-of-age source material, but Coppola’s approach to the material is very, very different. It’s out on Blu-ray from Criterion now.
This Criterion Blu-ray from the new 2K restoration, and with all of it’s supplemental features, is the definitive version of the film. For anyone looking to add a single Hepburn/Tracy movie to their collection, this is the one.
‘Toni Erdmann’ is funny, unpredictable, and delectable throughout its entirety. It is with no small amount of anger, however, that I must report that Blu-ray edition is being released only as “Manufactured on Demand.”
Jackie isn’t standard biopic fare, but instead a hugely resonant examination of conflicting emotions, grief in the spotlight, and the blurry lines between real people and myth-making.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is Roger Ebert’s sole screenplay credit and it’s gonzo as hell. He takes a bunch of stock characters (and c-list actors and former Playboy playmates) and grinds them through enough ridiculous conflict to put a season of American Horror Story to shame.
Son of Saul is a one-of-a kind immersive experience that gives stark glimpses of death-camp murder and madness with a frightening frankness.
‘Brief Encounter’ is David Lean’s exquisite romantic drama that seems simple on the surface, but even in the face of the extra-marital affair at is heart, it has a heightened sense of morality.
At the height of the Cold War, the chilling thought that we couldn’t tell the enemy from ourselves was too much to for audiences, who turned a cold shoulder to The Manchurian Candidate. Now that’s its on Criterion Blu-ray, don’t make the same mistake.
It’s easy to fall for Sisters’ natural charm and just let the movie work on you. Sure, it’s a silly premise with all kinds of moments that don’t quite ring true as realistic, but if we’re going to have one more dumb man-child comedy, at least this one has Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in it.
There’s little fault to find in Coming Home, which tells a heartbreaking story using components of a cultural upheaval that most of the world, China included, knows little about.
The Danish Girl, out on Blu-ray now, pulls back every time there is an opportunity for an in-depth exploration of Lili’s psyche or an examination on Gerda’s part for the guilt and regret she may feel for encouraging this.
The Graduate is on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection, mastered from a 4K digital restoration with a wonderful new 5.1 surround sound remix, approved by Nichols before his death last year, and tons of extra features.
Death by Hanging is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was released in 1968. New on Blu-ray from Criterion today, this absurdist satire from Nagisa Oshima shows a man executed by the government whose body refuses to die.
Now that it’s out on Blu-ray, ‘Steve Jobs’ can be seen and appreciated by a wider audience for the engaging biopic that it is.