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.
Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
Within the alien subgenre, there lies another. Therein, knowledge is treasure and the fifth dimension is love. The major rule: once the mystery and the chills have subsided, the revelations are enlightening and the welcomes warm. Thankfully, Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival is more worthwhile than that. The film juggles a bit of world-building with meaty, compelling characters while trying to make linguistics look cool. No easy task, but the film does so in a breeze that feels light enough to digest (props to some stellar chemistry between its leads), yet brooding enough to resonate. With some brilliant editing and narrative structure, the result is perhaps more interesting to discuss than to watch — and it’s really, really interesting to watch. – Conor O.
The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Say what you will about comic-book adaptations and the like, but there may not be a genre more tired in Hollywood than the coming-of-age film. Thanks to their relatively cheap budgets and aims to connect with a pre-determined movie-going (though even that is up for debate) audience, many often feel like they are hitting checkboxes and not much else. Enter The Edge of Seventeen, which depicts teenage angst with such pinpoint accuracy one wonders why it’s never been handled precisely this way before. A debut no less, writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig‘s script — which never dumb downs or generalizes the high school experience — is brought to life perfectly by Hailee Steinfeld in an emotionally honest performance that even outpaces her break-out in True Grit. – Jordan R.
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Ermanno Olmi)
Ermanno Olmi‘s three-hour-plus Palme d’Or winner is a naturalistic masterpiece and an early contender for one of The Criterion Collection’s finest restorations and re-introductions of the year. Exploring peasant life in the northern Italy area of Bergamo, Olmi captures a group of families’ struggles and minor triumphs without a shred of artificiality throughout the entire runtime. If cinema’s greatest accomplishment is opening a window to the other side of the world, The Tree of Wooden Clogs is one of the prime examples of genuine humanity. Featuring a new discussion with the cast and crew from last year’s Cinema Ritrovato film festival, as well as an hour-long TV special featuring Olmi, one of the greatest feature, however brief, is an introduction from Mike Leigh, who discusses the immense impact the film has had on him. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (review)
Bleed for This (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
10 Cloverfield Lane (Blu-ray) – $10.16
99 Homes (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Ali (Blu-ray) – $10.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $9.97
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $7.48
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $8.59
The Babadook (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $5.32
The Beguiled (Blu-ray) – $7.16
Blackhat (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.27
Brooklyn (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Carrie (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.94
Chi-Raq (Blu-ray) – $11.99
The Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $8.51
Glengarry Glen Ross (Blu-ray) – $8.84
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $8.03
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $4.80
Green Room (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $5.50
Heat (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.01
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $7.22
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inherent Vice (Blu-ray) – $10.70
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $9.89
In the Loop ( Blu-ray) – $9.61
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $5.83
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Knight of Cups (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Kubo and the Two Strings (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89
The Lobster (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Magic Mike XXL (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $5.12
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $8.96
Midnight Special (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.15
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.50
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Blu-ray) – $10.99
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Raid: Redemption (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.39
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.18
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Sunshine (Blu-ray) – $8.04
Swiss Army Man (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $8.86
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Blu-ray) – $9.69
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.00
The Third Man (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $8.22
Two Lovers (Blu-ray) – $9.87
Volver (Blu-ray) – $6.79
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wolf of Wall Street (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $7.88
What are you picking up this week?