Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. If we were provided screener copies, we’ll have our own write-up, but if that’s not the case, one can find official descriptions from the distributors. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
In the early 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder discovered the American melodramas of Douglas Sirk and was inspired by them to begin working in a new, more intensely emotional register. One of the first and best-loved films of this period in his career is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which balances a realistic depiction of tormented romance with staging that remains true to the director’s roots in experimental theater. This unforgettable, unforgiving dissection of the imbalanced relationship between a haughty fashion designer (Margit Carstensen) and a beautiful but icy ingenue (Hanna Schygulla)—based, in a sly gender reversal, on the writer-director’s own desperate obsession with a young actor—is a true Fassbinder affair, featuring exquisitely claustrophobic cinematography by Michael Ballhaus and full-throttle performances by an all-female cast. – Criterion.com
Gone Girl (David Fincher)
I’m not sure if Fincher taps into anything profound here regarding relationships or gender. He does, however, craft a visceral experience that pummels the viewer with its phantasmagoric narrative and images. As the noose tightens around Nick Dunne (an excellent Ben Affleck) shot by shot in the film’s first third, you realize you’re in the hands of a gifted filmmaker. Once the Gillian Flynn adaptation reveals what happened to the one and only Amazing Amy, played by Rosamund Pike, it releases some of the most unsettling and macabre sequences of 2014. – Zade C.
Love is Strange (Ira Sachs)
A timely New York story for any orientation, Love is Strange is Ira Sachs’ most accessible film, until its frustrating ending. Sachs, despite edging towards the mainstream, even pushing towards sitcom territory, pulls back and provides us, as usual, with no simple answer for its conclusion. If he had been working on this film within the studio system, an executive or test audience would have made him choose. Here, leaving the fate of a supporting character up in the air can either be a very smart, respectful decision or fodder for frustration. – John F. (full review)
A Walk Among the Tombstones (Scott Frank)
Indicated by the proliferation of his action-oriented films in the last half-decade, simply uttering the name Liam Neeson spurs the specific notion of a certain sort of slick, B-movie thriller. Considering the box-office he can bring in, it’s no surprise that even with the loosest connection to a Taken-esque plot, his features in the genre are marketed as bullet-riddled blow-outs. While his latest film, A Walk Among the Tombstones, may contain impassioned phone calls, kidnappings, and even open with all-out warfare, it is distinctly of its own world: a brooding, sharp and skillfully crafted, character-focused detective story. – Nathan B. (full review)
Also Available This Week
Finding Fela! (review)
Honeymoon (review)
Jimi: All is By My Side (review)
Memphis (review)
The Two Faces of January
Wetlands (review)
Young Ones (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
(Note: new additions are in red)
12 Years a Slave (Blu-ray) – $11.99
21 Jump Street (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Alien Anthology (Blu-ray) – $24.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Atonement (Blu-ray) – $7.55
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.60
Black Swan (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Boogie Nights (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Bronson (Blu-ray) – $10.91
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Casino (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Contagion (Blu-ray) – $8.83
Do the Right Thing (Blu-ray) – $7.00
The Fly (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Gangs of New York (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $8.54
Good Will Hunting (Blu-ray) – $7.48
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Gravity (Blu-ray) – $11.99
The Grey (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inside Llewyn Davis (Blu-ray) – $9.99
In the Loop (Blu-ray) – $7.96
Jackie Brown (Blu-ray) – $8.12
L.A. Confidential (Blu-ray) – $8.66
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Observe & Report (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Office Space (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $7.26
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Reality Bites (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Secret In Their Eyes (Blu-ray) – $8.10
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $8.25
Seven (Blu-ray) – $6.71
sex, lies, and videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.35
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $7.50
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $8.87
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Spring Breakers (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Source Code (Blu-ray) – $5.00
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.65
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $7.99
This is the End (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery (Blu-ray) – $79.99
Valhalla Rising (Blu-ray) – $10.78
Vanilla Sky (Blu-ray pre-order) – $8.50
Volver (Blu-ray) – $6.56
We Own the Night (Blu-ray) – $6.91
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Zero Theorem (Blu-ray) – $11.99
What are you picking up this week?