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.
Cosmos (Andrzej Żuławski)
If there’s any way to synthesize the many pieces that form the bull-in-a-china-shop filmmaking that is Andrzej Żuławski‘s Cosmos, an adaptation of Witold Gombrowicz‘s novel, consider its status as his first feature in fifteen years. Might some sense of long-awaited release account for its why and how — the intensity of its performances, the force of its camera moves, the sharpness of its cuts, the bombast of its emotions? I’m inclined to think so, but it’s possible I’m only proposing this in search of a “what” — what’s going on, what he was thinking, and what we’re meant to take from any and all of it. Answers, if they do come at all, will only gradually present themselves, and they won’t arrive via exposition or, with some exception, clearly stated themes. A filmmaker who values the power of shock, but not necessarily thrills for thrills’ sake, Żuławski elucidates material with tools that announce themselves in their presentation — surprising camera dollies, fast pans, sudden cuts, overly prominent music cues — and raise complex questions about their relation to one another. – Nick N. (full review)
Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)
David Cronenberg gave us two Jeremy Irons in this medical psycho-horror piece about an unusual sibling bond. Inspired by the true story of Stewart and Cyril Marcus, the surreal setup follows identical twin brothers Elliot and Beverly Mantle, respected gynecologists who fall apart both mentally and professionally when one of them falls for a beautiful patient (played by Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold). Irons tackled the challenge of playing two characters, the manipulative Elliot and the sensitive Beverly, thanks to a little method acting – it’s said that he requested two dressing rooms and used them respectively depending on who he was playing. His excellent dual performance serves as the centerpiece to an unforgettable film fraught with the signature Cronenberg themes of invasive body horror (the surgical scenes are a woman’s worst nightmare) and sexual depravity. – Amanda W.
Dreams (Akira Kurosawa)
Unfolding in a series of eight mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa was inspired by the beloved director’s own nighttime visions, along with stories from Japanese folklore. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s imagination, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic apparitions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of creation, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (who is played by Martin Scorsese), Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams is both a showcase for its maker’s artistry at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance. – Criterion.com
Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Unless you’ve got your hands on their LaserDisc edition of Boogie Nights, the moment has arrived: one can now own a Paul Thomas Anderson film with the Criterion Collection treatment. Just after we named it one of the 50 best comedies of the 21st century so far, his Adam Sandler-led 2002 feature Punch-Drunk Love is finally available. Along with the beautifully restored film — which has a manic energy that jumps off the screen matched with the late Jeremy Blake‘s emotionally vibrant transitions (which one can see clearly influenced La La Land) — one of the new special features is a fantastic 27-minute conversation with composer Jon Brion. He shares a story about a screening with an executive that didn’t full comprehend the narrative, and PTA simply answered, “I know. Isn’t it great?” Brion concludes with, “If anyone else in town starts f*cking doing that, maybe we’ll have some movies to watch.” Amen. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
Breathless
Citizen Kane: 75th Anniversary
Finding Dory (review)
Macbeth
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Collector’s Edition (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
99 Homes (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Aliens: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.96
The American (Blu-ray) – $7.14
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.67
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Assassin (Blu-ray) – $10.91
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $5.76
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $6.45
Carrie (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.88
The Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.46
Enemy (Blu-ray) – $9.96
Everybody Wants Some!! (Blu-ray) – $14.99
Ex Machina (Blu-ray) – $7.82
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Gone Girl (Blu-ray) – $9.83
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.10
Hail, Caesar! (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Haywire (Blu-ray) – $6.02
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) – $9.96
Jane Eyre (Blu-ray) – $5.45
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.89
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Knight of Cups (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.32
Lincoln (Blu-ray) – $9.94
Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $8.49
The Magnificent Seven (Blu-ray) – $8.82
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) – $8.49
Midnight Special (Blu-ray) – $12.99
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.58
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $6.95
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.00
The Nice Guys (Blu-ray) – $12.99
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.00
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.67
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $8.31
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.34
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $8.05
Ran (Blu-ray) – $11.48
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $5.00
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.58
Selma (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.85
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $5.00
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.19
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Blu-ray) – $8.79
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $5.80
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $5.20
Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Blu-ray) – $7.26
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) – $5.95
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.14
Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray) – $7.99
What are you picking up this week?