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.
Boy & the World (Alê Abreu)
Crayon-like scribblings and simple geometric patterns meticulously complicate themselves like a fractal over the course of this child’s-eye odyssey through the global struggle between humankind and the forces that oppress it. Kaleidoscopic visuals use repetition to explore the communal nature of both work and celebration. This film continually pulls back to show the larger picture of society, its visuals becoming more complex in kind, before it reduces to a more intimate view in a supremely bittersweet rendition of Campbell’s heroic return. – Daniel Schindel
The In-Laws (Arthur Hiller)
Peter Falk and Alan Arkin make for a hilarious dream team in this beloved American sidesplitter. Directed by Arthur Hiller from an ingenious script by Andrew Bergman, The In-Laws may at first seem like a generic meet-the-parents comedy, as Arkin’s mild-mannered dentist suspiciously eyes Falk’s volatile mystery man, whose son is engaged to his daughter. But soon, through a series of events too serpentine and surprising to spoil, the two men are brought together by a dangerous mission that takes them from suburban New Jersey to Honduras. Fueled by elaborate stunt work and the laconic, naturalistic charms of its two stars, The In-Laws deserves its status as a madcap classic—and has continued to draw ardent fans in the years since its release. – Criterion.com
Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata)
Only Yesterday originally came out more than two decades ago in Japan through Studio Ghibli, but Isao Takahata’s mature, humane slice of life drama couldn’t feel more achingly relevant to the narrative concerns of this decade, and cinema’s renewed interest in the experiences of spiritually adrift young women staking their own path. And even while Only Yesterday is treading familiar emotional terrain, it feels far from programmatic. – Michael S. (full review)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent)
delicately balances between a thrilling, gritty dive underground and a peek around the corner of New York City’s transit system, from the bureaucrats up at Gracie Mansion on down to the operators flipping switches and saving lives. Neither carry great appeal by the end — most audiences would rather see Robert Shaw get away than have the mayor come out on top — save for what work Walter Matthau turns in as an irascible, unlikely hero. Better yet, you’ll never go toward a third rail on your next visit to the 4 train. – Nick N.
Also Arriving This Week
By the Sea (review)
The Family Fang (review)
The Mermaid (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
Top Deal: A selection of Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg Blu-rays are under $10 this week.
All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $7.76
The American (Blu-ray) – $6.67
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.03
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.90
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.89
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $8.86
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $10.98
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.33
Far From the Madding Crowd (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.06
The Guest (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.59
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $8.05
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $8.68
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.79
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Macbeth (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – $11.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.11
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.99
The Master (Blu-ray) – $11.44
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $8.06
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $8.61
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Pan’s Labyrinth (Blu-ray) – $7.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $9.48
Pariah (Blu-ray) – $7.56
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.79
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.39
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Raging Bull: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.00
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Rio Bravo (Blu-ray) – $8.49
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.21
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.34
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $5.89
Seven Psychopaths (Blu-ray) – $7.99
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $5.20
Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.89
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.19
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.33
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.95
The Witch (Blu-ray) – $14.96
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.33
What are you picking up this week?