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. If we were provided screener copies, we’ll have our own write-up, but if that’s not the case, one can find official descriptions from the distributors. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best 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.
Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman)
Autumn Sonata carries with it the undeniable theme of a “star” casting shadows on their offspring. When she finally arrives on screen, Ingrid Bergman’s Charlotte, the mother of Liv Ullman‘s Eva, is a tidal wave of charisma, prancing around her daughter’s house with an almost superfluous obliviousness. But, then, Eva drops the gauntlet on her mother: Charlotte’s other daughter, the mentally and physically challenged Helena (Lena Nyman), is also in the home. The events that follow — an epic piano duel and the long heated denouncement of past sins — works on three levels: the events of the drama present on screen; the relationship between Bergman’s Hollywood work (a more precise and stronger enunciation, as she notes while playing the Chopin sonata) to that of European filmmakers (Eva’s messy, nevertheless more honest interpretation of the sonata); and a play on the meta-relationship of the actress and her own daughter. – Peter L.
See Also: Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata Hits Criterion: A Hollywood Star Returns to the Homeland
Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh)
“Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” So says Liberace in what might be Steven Soderbergh‘s final feature film, Behind the Candelabra. A biopic about the flamboyant Las Vegas performer whose virtuoso piano skills and over the top extravagance made him a household name, the film dives into his personal relationship with a young animal trainer from Hollywood. Starring Michael Douglas as the lavish larger-than-life singer, constantly adorned in sparkling crystals outfits, and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson, the innocent young man who suddenly finds himself a boy toy, the central focus is on the couple’s burgeoning relationship and how it deteriorates throughout the years. Surprisingly less tame than one might imagine, Behind the Candelabra is, also, unexpectedly standard fare when it comes to profiling a personality as grandiose as its central subject. – Raffi A.
See Also: Cannes Review
The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola)
Arriving after her most abstract work, Somewhere, Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring is a darkly comedic send-up of reality TV and the culture of Twitter (which creates the illusion you can be BFFs with Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan). Starring Emma Watson as the ringleader’s co-hort and Leslie Mann as her mom (who eggs them on with “vision boards”), The Bling Ring perfectly captures (to a literal extent, figuring in the late Harris Savides‘ gorgeous, final work) an American subculture gone too far. – John F.
See Also: Live Fast, Die Young, Bad Girls Do it Well: The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers, The Influence of L’Avventura on Spring Breakers, The Bling Ring, To the Wonder and Upstream Color
Slacker (Richard Linklater)
Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer-producer-director Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s. – Criterion
World War Z (Marc Forster)
Bite and release; that’s the new motive of the hungry undead in Marc Forster’s expensive adaptation of Max Brooks’ World War Z. It’s also the tactic of the film itself, that wastes no time throwing summer movie audiences into an apocalyptic, globe-trotting adventure that bears little resemblance to its source material but finds plenty of time for Brad Pitt to smile generously while trying to save the world’s sorry ass. There are no sluggish, sloppy brain-eaters in World War Z, just a coldly lethal wave of ex-humanity, now writhing, running emissaries for whatever mysterious pathogen has ravaged their bodies. As quick and relentless as its antagonists, Forster’s film marks a first; an almost family-friendly zombie thriller, that nimbly moves between big set pieces and trades up a final, massive fire-fight for a scene of quiet, deliberate creepiness. It’s not the cinematic zombie revolution rabid fans were looking for, but as a tasty big-budget monster movie, it does make for good fun. – Nathan B.
See Also: The Film Stage Show Ep. 62 – World War Z
Rent: Disconnect, The East, Scenic Route
Recommended Deals of the Weeks
(Note: new additions are in red)
21 Jump Street (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Airplane! (Blu-ray) – $8.49
The American (Blu-ray) – $4.99
Cool Hand Luke (Blu-ray) – $8.93
Collateral (Blu-ray) – $8.05
Contact (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Dark City (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Fargo (Blu-ray) – $7.49
Fight Club (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Inception (Blu-ray) – $8.76
Memento (Blu-ray) – $9.51
Naked Gun (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Once Upon a Time in the West (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Raging Bull (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Seven (Blu-ray) – $10.49
Seven Psychopaths (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Sid & Nancy (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Blu-ray) – $5.00
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.83
The Thing (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $9.98
Wanderlust (Blu-ray) – $7.61
Wayne’s World (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Winter’s Bone (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Zodiac (Blu-ray) – $9.98
What are you picking up this week?