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.
Note: With Black Friday approaching and many deals already underway, this week’s column will be dedicated to the event as we highlight some of our favorite deals (see all of them here).
Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie)
David McKenzie’s Hell or High Water is a gritty, darkly humorous, and fiendishly violent neo-western. Or, in other words, the type of film you might expect from a non-American director working in the United States. It borrows heavily from the Coen brothers and Cormac McCarthy, but it does so very well, thanks largely to a terrific script from Taylor Sheridan, the red-hot actor-turned-screenwriter who broke onto the scene last year with Sicario. It might usher in a new chapter of the Cambridge-born director’s career having come back strong in 2013 directing an inspired Jack O’Connell in Starred Up. Indeed, this relocation to the States should go some way to explaining an enjoyably plastic impression of West Texas, where T-bone steaks are served only medium rare and people say things like, “Sideways don’t wanna meet me. Unless it wants to find itself at the short end of a long street.” Or something like that. – Rory O. (full review)
Kubo and the Two Strings (Travis Knight)
While there’s a distinct novelty to all of their work — whether it’s based on books by Neil Gaiman or Alan Snow — Laika have returned to genuinely original material with their fourth animation. This time around, the company’s CEO and lead animator on their first trio of films, Travis Knight, makes his directorial debut with Kubo and the Two Strings. Steeped in the mythology and fables of Japanese history, it’s another fantastical adventure from the studio with innovation and awe at every turn, despite a story that could benefit from having more specificity and focus. – Jordan R. (full review)
The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach)
With Kicking and Screaming and Frances Ha already on The Criterion Collection, today they’ve added one of Noah Baumbach‘s most acclaimed films: The Squid and the Whale. After being a personal formative lens into the world of independent filmmaking, revisiting it over a decade later, it still retains the same nakedly honest bite, with Jeff Daniels‘ performance particularly standing out as his character has no qualms about saying whatever is on his mind, however damaging it may be. Featuring new interviews with Baumbach and nearly all the main ensemble, it’s especially interesting to hear from Owen Kline‘s perspective, as hasn’t acted in a feature film since. Also of note is a new conversation between Baumbach and composers Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips in which they dive into how they come up with music often by using different influences (including Midnight Cowboy) to create something utterly new. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
Hands of Stone
One-Eyed Jacks
Rabid
War Dogs (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
Top Deal: See all Black Friday deals here.
10 Cloverfield Lane (Blu-ray) – $9.96
12 Years a Slave (Blu-ray) – $7.00
99 Homes (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Aliens: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $7.13
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.67
The Assassin (Blu-ray) – $9.03
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $5.52
The Big Short (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Brooklyn (Blu-ray) – $5.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $6.45
Captain Fantastic (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Carol (Blu-ray) – $12.95
Carrie (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) – $6.99
The Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $9.04
Enemy (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Ex Machina (Blu-ray) – $3.99
The Godfather Collection (Blu-ray) – $19.99
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Gravity (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.10
Green Room (Blu-ray) – $11.49
Hail, Caesar! (Blu-ray) – $11.99
The Hateful Eight (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $5.60
Heat (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.15
Incendies (Blu-ray) – $9.53
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $7.89
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inherent Vice (Blu-ray) – $10.75
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $8.99
It Follows (Blu-ray) – $3.99
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $5.35
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.89
John Wick (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Knight of Cups (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.78
Let the Right One In (Blu-ray) – $8.84
Lincoln (Blu-ray) – $9.94
Looper (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Magic Mike XXL (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $7.29
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.53
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $5.26
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Midnight Special (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.58
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $6.98
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Nightcrawler (Blu-ray) – $8.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.00
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.67
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.34
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Blu-ray) – $10.00
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $6.96
Ran (Blu-ray) – $11.48
The Revenant (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.11
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.58
Selma (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.39
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.85
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Sing Street (Blu-ray) – $11.49
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.21
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Blu-ray) – $8.79
The Shallows (Blu-ray) – $9.00
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $5.80
Sorcerer (Blu-ray) – $10.01
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $5.20
Steve Jobs (Blu-ray) – $6.96
Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Blu-ray) – $7.39
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $5.86
Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.95
To the Wonder (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Volver (Blu-ray) – $6.45
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.14
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Witch (Blu-ray) – $11.49
The Wolf of Wall Street (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $9.99
What are you picking up this week?