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.
Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov)
One of the most staggering technical achievements in the history of movies, Russian Ark consists of one unbroken 96-minute shot through the halls of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Director Alexander Sokurov collaborated with a cast of thousands, followed by iron man director of photography Tillman Büttner (Run Lola Run), to produce this unclassifiable masterpiece. – Blu-ray.com
Tokyo Story (Yasujirô Ozu)
A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu. The film, which follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces. – Criterion.com
The World’s End (Edgar Wright)
Shaun of the Dead opened with the notes of classic horror layered over studio logos from the 21st century. The initial aural-visual impressions from Hot Fuzz are police sirens scattering through a soundtrack as title cards transform to the will of these invasive tones. As the Focus Features banner fades in at the start of The World’s End, a voice pleading for freedom and independence — as transmogrified through the classic sampling in Primal Scream’s “Loaded” — fills our ears, only in its suggestions instantaneously vaulting us back to an experience since erased by time and personal adjustment. In seconds, the three-piece seam has been formed: a crossing of the past and present; a dive into the single-minded visage of another; and that throbbing desire to break from a norm, finding oneself consumed by their past. – Nick N. (full review)
Rent: 2 Guns, Crystal Fairy, Hannah Arendt, The To-Do List, We’re The Millers
Recommended Deals of the Weeks
(Note: new additions are in red)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Blu-Ray) – $8.49
Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection (Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds) (Blu-ray) – $39.99
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.25
Blue Valentine (Blu-ray) – $7.79
Cape Fear (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Children of Men (Blu-ray) – $9.98
Cool Hand Luke (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Contact (Blu-ray) – $6.49
Dark City (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Eyes Wide Shut (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Gone Baby Gone (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Goodfellas (Blu-ray) – $8.87
Halloween (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Hugo (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Inception (Blu-ray) – $9.93
Jackie Brown (Blu-ray) – $5.00
King Kong (1933) (Blu-ray) – $10.99
Memento (Blu-ray) – $9.98
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Once Upon a Time in the West (Blu-ray) – $8.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $7.00
Side Effects (Blu-ray) – $12.49
Source Code (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Blu-ray) – $7.79
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $7.86
The Truman Show (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Wanderlust (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Winter’s Bone (Blu-ray) – $5.00
Zodiac (Blu-ray) – $9.49
What are you picking up this week?