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.
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
This existential wail of a drama from Ingmar Bergman concerns two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann), keeping vigil for a third, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer and can find solace only in the arms of a beatific servant (Kari Sylwan). An intensely felt film that is one of Bergman’s most striking formal experiments, Cries and Whispers (which won an Oscar for the extraordinary color photography of Sven Nykvist) is a powerful depiction of human behavior in the face of death, positioned on the borders between reality and nightmare, tranquillity and terror. – Criterion.com
Hoop Dreams (Steve James)
Two ordinary inner-city Chicago kids dare to reach for the impossible—professional basketball glory—in this epic chronicle of hope and faith. Filmed over a five-year period, Hoop Dreams, by Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert, follows young Arthur Agee and William Gates and their families as the boys navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while dealing with the intense pressures of their home lives and neighborhoods. This revelatory film continues to educate and inspire viewers, and it is widely considered one of the great works of American nonfiction cinema. – Criterion.com
Interstellar (Christopher Nolan)
Sure, the film has some flaws. I think Nolan‘s visual style suffers with the absence of his usual collaborator, Wally Pfister, though Hoyte van Hoytema still shoots a beautiful film. All the same, Interstellar swings for the fences, and while it might throw out its shoulder and stumble on a twisted ankle in the homestretch, I’ll be damned if the ball doesn’t fly high over the fences and the runner doesn’t get the run (to stretch a metaphor to its breaking point). Nolan finds an incredible emotional depth in his material, performers, and narrative, making this the first of his works to bring tears to my eyes. The score is a bombastic overture perfectly in line with the starscapes and planets on display, and the overflowing optimism about humanity’s ability to reach to new heights makes this a powerful, worthy cinematic experience. – Brian R.
Also Available This Week
Day of Anger
Gravity: Diamond Luxe Edition
The Imitation Game (review)
The Rewrite (review)
Wild (review)
Wild Card (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
(Note: new additions are in red)
The American (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.73
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.60
Birdman (Blu-ray) – $13.00
Black Swan (Blu-ray) – $7.06
The Bling Ring (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Bronson (Blu-ray) – $10.91
Burn After Reading (Blu-ray) – $8.83
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Casino (Blu-ray) – $8.97
Captain Phillips (Blu-ray) – $9.73
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Collateral (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Contagion (Blu-ray) – $8.83
Do the Right Thing (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Drive (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Fly (Blu-ray) – $7.12
Gangs of New York (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $13.00
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $8.08
Good Will Hunting (Blu-ray) – $7.00
The Grey (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Jackie Brown (Blu-ray) – $7.82
Killing Them Softly (Blu-ray) – $10.00
L.A. Confidential (Blu-ray) – $8.59
Looper (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $8.98
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $7.44
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Night Moves (Blu-ray) – $9.39
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $7.18
Observe & Report (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Office Space (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $6.13
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $9.00
Public Enemies (Blu-ray) – $9.10
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Reality Bites (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Rover (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Secret In Their Eyes (Blu-ray) – $7.45
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.98
Seven (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Skyfall (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Spring Breakers (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $7.99
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $7.99
This is the End (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Under the Skin (Blu-ray) – $14.99
Vanilla Sky (Blu-ray pre-order) – $8.40
We Own the Night (Blu-ray) – $9.29
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $14.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $6.70
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $8.00
What are you picking up this week?