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.
Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
Perhaps the most important film of the year, Laura Poitras’ documentary captures the immediate aftermath following Edward Snowden’s leak of top-secret NSA documents to the world. For the majority of its runtime, we are placed in a Hong Kong hotel room with Poitras, reporter Glenn Greenwald, and Snowden as they sift through as much information as they can while Snowden tells you that everything you feared about our government was (and is) very much true. – Dan M.
Iris (Albert Maysles)
In 1970, David and Albert Maysles unleashed their seminal documentary Gimme Shelter. The brothers captured the violent events at the 1969 Altamont Speedway Festival with the Rolling Stones playing out an era of “peace and love.” Gimme Shelter is molded into a masterful set of images and moments that are explosive, dangerous, and alluring — much like the music of rock ‘n’ roll. Throughout their celebrated and prolific career, the Maysles siblings explored vast worlds, a portrait of American salesmen or the reclusive world of society’s elite in East Hampton making for some of their most iconic works. – Zade C. (full review)
Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. Throne of Blood fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience. – Criterion.com
Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
This is not quite as physical as some of the Dardenne brothers’ earlier, more visceral work. Think, for one thing, of the blindsiding opening of Rosetta, in which the camera darts and races to follow Émilie Dequenne as she tries elude the grasp of her peeved boss (Olivier Gourmet). Even the plot, which is inherently formulaic and intensely organized, is less natural-seeming than the previous stuff. But their gifts — shrewd framing (notice how Marion Cotillard is constantly separated from her co-workers by some kind of barrier) and genuine human empathy — are still evident throughout. After witnessing the character’s agonizing, compressed cycle of naps, wake-ups, phone calls, arguments, rants, and pill-popping episodes, Cotillard’s short phone call that ends Two Days, One Night carries the weight of the world. – Danny K.
Also Arriving This Week
Aloha (review)
Big Game (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
(Note: new additions are in red)
12 Years a Slave (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Adaptation (Blu-ray) – $7.99
A Most Wanted Man (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The American (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Anna Karenina (Blu-ray) – $12.22
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Black Swan (Blu-ray) – $6.60
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $8.19
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Children of Men (Blu-ray) – $8.50
Cloverfield (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Collateral (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The Counselor (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Descendants (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Drive (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Fly (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Gangs of New York (Blu-ray) – $7.50
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $13.23
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Good Will Hunting (Blu-ray) – $7.50
The Graduate (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The Grandmaster (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $9.29
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $7.66
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $8.50
In the Loop (Blu-ray) – $7.59
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $13.07
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $8.33
Killing Them Softly (Blu-ray) – $6.31
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $8.71
Magic Mike (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray) – $6.94
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $5.78
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.47
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $6.49
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $4.96
Observe & Report (Blu-ray) – $7.49
Office Space (Blu-ray) – $5.88
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.74
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $9.47
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $11.62
Reality Bites (Blu-ray) – $8.72
The Secret In Their Eyes (Blu-ray) – $6.51
Seven (Blu-ray) – $6.68
Seven Psychopaths (Blu-ray) – $7.99
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.14
Snowpiercer (Blu-ray) – $10.49
The Spectacular Now (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.57
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.69
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.89
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $7.84
They Came Together (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $11.99
True Grit (Blu-ray) – $9.98
This is the End (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Under the Skin (Blu-ray) – $9.99
We Own the Night (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $6.91
While We’re Young (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $6.44
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (Blu-ray) – $97.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $9.99
What are you picking up this week?