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.
Arabian Nights (Miguel Gomes)
In lauding Miguel Gomes‘ three-part, six-and-a-half hour behemoth, it’s perhaps important to consider his background as a critic. Not just in terms of the trilogy’s cinephilic engagement with Rossellini, Alonso, Oliveira, etc.; also in its defiant nature. While it’s easy to assign the trilogy certain humanist and satirical labels from the get-go and just praise these films for following through on them, Gomes continually seeks to mutate and complicate his of age-of-austerity saga. Far from perfect, and so much more exciting for that very reason. – Ethan V.
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper)
This is the definitive counterculture blockbuster. The down-and-dirty directorial debut of former clean-cut teen star Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider heralded the arrival of a new voice in film, one pitched angrily against the mainstream. After the film’s cross-country journey—with its radical, New Wave–style editing, outsider-rock soundtrack, revelatory performance by a young Jack Nicholson, and explosive ending—the American road trip would never be the same. – Criterion.com
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (Stephen Cone)
With a relatively small theatrical roll-out earlier this year, it’s likely you haven’t heard of Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, but Stephen Cone‘s drama is one of the best films of the year thus far. Authentically capturing a conservative upbringing and the repression therein, it takes place over one day as we follow Henry (Cole Doman, in a wonderful break-out performance) and his group of friends — as well as adults from the local church — as they skirt around past trauma, burgeoning sexuality, and more. Directed with a level of intimacy and emotional truth by Cone simply not present in most dramas — regardless of budget — it’s an essential watch. – Jordan R.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols)
Following a documentary on his career, it’s fitting that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the extraordinary debut from the late Mike Nichols, is now getting a Blu-ray release. Led by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as a warring married couple, the five-time Academy Award winner was a perfect directorial start for Nichols, considering its origins on the stage. This Blu-ray release includes commentary from both Nichols and Steven Soderbergh as well as another track by Haskell Wexler and screen tests, featurettes, and a documentary on Taylor. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
City Heat
Joy (review)
Remember (review)
True Crime
Recommended Deals of the Week
The American (Blu-ray) – $8.45
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassin (Blu-ray) – $11.99
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.48
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $12.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.64
Casino (Blu-ray) – $8.79
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $7.89
The Fall (Blu-ray) – $12.04
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $9.99
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Heat (Blu-ray) – $9.03
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $13.79
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.19
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Macbeth (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.48
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.31
Nightcrawler (Blu-ray) – $11.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.83
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.79
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.28
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.19
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $5.00
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $8.28
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $8.52
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $7.49
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.15
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $7.12
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.71
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.49
What are you picking up this week?