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. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) 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.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams)
If Disney spent their $4 billion wisely and Star Wars really is here to stay, there will be only so many opportunities to begin on fresh ground. J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan might have planted their feet as well as possible when their opening text crawl, all set to that iconic theme, gets us up to speed with these four words: “Luke Skywalker has vanished.” It’s hardly a spoiler to say that, yes, Mark Hamill‘s now-legendary Jedi will appear before us — visibly older, somewhat weathered, a bit paunchier, and with the more-salt-than-pepper goatee that tells us we’re in the presence of a wise man — before this seventh episode irises out of its action and into the countless installments that are sure to follow. For as much as the material surrounding it can lack the fortitude to truly stand on its own, it’s this through line that finally dispels the notion of a two-hour fan service, and those stretches during which it goes into uncharted territory manage to surprise expressly because of the old tales — those of a pop-culture institution as well-known as any in the history of art — it’s building from. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not a great film, but it flirts with that designation far more often than this lapsed fan could have ever expected. If, on a creative level, what’s contained herein is ultimately the planting of seeds that will continue growing two, four, or forty years down the line, I suspect this franchise is in its best-ever state. How fortunate that it also stands alone as a good time at the movies. – Nick N. (full review)
Also Arriving This Week
Ava’s Possessions (review)
Death Walks Twice: Two Films By Luciano Ercoli
The Hallow (review)
Mojave (review)
Tumbledown (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
The American (Blu-ray) – $8.48
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassin (Blu-ray) – $14.99
Attack the Block (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Bronson (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $10.30
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.64
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $9.88
Casino (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.00
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Heat (Blu-ray) – $9.02
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $13.79
Incendies (Blu-ray) – $10.04
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Knight of Cups (Blu-ray pre-order) – $14.99
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Magic Mike (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.48
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Munich (Blu-ray) – $12.29
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.00
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $9.45
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.71
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.23
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.59
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.19
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.83
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.00
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.43
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.25
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.15
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $8.91
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.48
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $6.97
What are you picking up this week?