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.
Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)
With its focus on the effects of exploration by white men on foreign lands, Ciro Guerra’s Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent will inevitably be compared to Werner Herzog’s stories of savage nature, and while Guerra is investigating some of Herzog’s most well trodden themes, the chaos of man exists in the background, while the unspoiled sit front and center here. Embrace of the Serpent centers on two explorers, separated by decades in time, searching for Yakruna – a fictional sacred plant with hallucinogenic qualities – but the movie is more about how outsiders – whether consciously or unconsciously – exert control. The repercussions of colonialism hover over the text even as these characters have “noble” intentions. – Michael S. (full review)
Fantastic Planet (René Laloux)
Nothing else has ever looked or felt like director René Laloux’s animated marvel Fantastic Planet, a politically minded and visually inventive work of science fiction. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). After Terr, kept as a pet since infancy, escapes from his gigantic child captor, he is swept up by a band of radical fellow Oms who are resisting the Draags’ oppression and violence. With its eerie, coolly surreal cutout animation by Roland Topor; brilliant psychedelic jazz score by Alain Goraguer; and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded 1973 counterculture classic is a perennially compelling statement against conformity and violence. – Criterion.com
Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick)
Knight of Cups, the newest film by reclusive auteur Terrence Malick, is a sumptuous sensory journey. Through montage, music, and overlapping dialogue and voiceover, the film creates an emotionally resonant sense of experience that requires no extended knowledge beyond the human spirit to understand.However, there is a deeper level of understanding that can be gleaned, and we did so here and here. – Brian R.
Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols)
Ambiguity might be the most useful item in the science fiction toolbox. Blade Runner’s mysteries still rob people of sleep, and you’d need a wall chart to work out Shane Carruth’s Primer. However, when used in rash abundance — as in this latest film from Mud and Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols — the results can leave the viewer in a rather less complimentary state of bafflement. The details in Midnight Special, Nichols’ homage-heavy sci-fi thriller set in his signature Deep South locale, are sometimes so scant as to be jarring. Yes, less is often more in Hollywood, but it can also be just plain less. – Rory O. (full review)
Also Arriving This Week
The Brothers Grimsby (review)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (review)
The Wave (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
Top Deal: A selection of Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg Blu-rays are under $10 this week.
All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $7.79
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.23
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $6.48
Carol (Blu-ray) – $13.00
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $10.55
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.33
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.33
The Guest (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.59
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $8.06
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Macbeth (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Magic Mike XXL (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.85
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.99
The Master (Blu-ray) – $12.46
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $7.98
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $9.37
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Pan’s Labyrinth (Blu-ray) – $7.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $9.48
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.75
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $6.34
Prisoners (Blu-ray) – $10.49
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Raging Bull: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $10.19
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Rio Bravo (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $5.88
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $6.67
Sicario (Blu-ray) – $13.00
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Steve Jobs (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Straight Outta Compton (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $7.99
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.19
The Third Man (Blu-ray) – $9.99
They Came Together (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $6.85
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Witch (Blu-ray) – $14.96
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.40
What are you picking up this week?