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.
A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino)
Despite a loose script that justifies little, Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up feature to his glorious melodrama I Am Love is a sweaty, kinetic, dangerously unpredictable ride of a film. One is frustrated by the final stroke of genius that never came, but boy was it fun to spend two hours inside such a whirlwind of desires, mind games, delirious sights and sounds. Based on the 1969 French drama La piscine (The Swimming Pool), the story essentially begins as Marianne (Tilda Swinton) and Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) – a couple vacationing on an Italian island – get an unexpected visit from her former lover and record producer Harry (Ralph Fiennes), along with his daughter Penny (Dakota Johnson). Harry, a raging bohemian who still harbors affections for Marianne, and Penny, a confident Lolita-type who has her sights set on the hunky Paul, will make sure feelings old and new get kindled, leading to frictions that may end up being more than harmless. – Zhuo-Ning Su (full review)
The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
Brad Bird‘s directorial debut, The Iron Giant, over fifteen years after a fairly underwhelming theatrical release, has been remastered and expanded (with two new scenes), which should please fans. If you missed its brief theatrical run, the animation following the relationship between a massive robot and a wide-eyed boy, is now available on Blu-ray, featuring a wealth of extras. – Jordan R.
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman)
Master of poisonous tongues and vicious schemes in the world of the rich and the poor, Love & Friendship is perhaps writer/director Whit Stillman‘s most potent mix of comedy and social commentary. He’s got Jane Austen to thank, whose novella ‘Lady Susan’ serves as the inspiration for this tale of Lady Susan Vernon (a pitch-perfect Kate Beckinsale), a widow with a flirtatious reputation, determined to well re-marry well at whatever the cost. Often laugh-out-loud funny and downright mean at the same time, Stillman is in top form here. – Dan M.
Neon Bull (Gabriel Mascaro)
From Blue Is the Warmest Color to Stranger by the Lake, from Pride to The Danish Girl, movies dealing with LGBT issues or characters have become ever more present at film festivals and cineplexes these past years. Against such background it’s especially intriguing to consider something like Neon Bull – a Brazilian rodeo drama in which everybody turns out to be straight – and its place in queer cinema. – Zhuo-Ning S. (full review)
Night Train to Munich (Carol Reed)
Carol Reed’s Night Train to Munich is a twisting, turning, cloak-and-dagger delight, combining comedy, romance, and thrills with the greatest of ease. Paced like an out-of-control locomotive, Night Train takes viewers on a journey from Prague to England to the Swiss Alps as Nazis pursue a Czech scientist and his daughter (Margaret Lockwood), who are being aided by a debonair British undercover agent, played by Rex Harrison. This captivating, long-overlooked adventure—which features Paul Henreid and a clever screenplay by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, best known for writing Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes—is a deftly concocted spy game that could give the Master of Suspense a run for his money. – Criterion.com
Also Arriving This Week
Buddymoon
Equals (review)
The Meddler
Money Monster
Nina
The Ones Below
Tale of Tales (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
Top Deal: A huge selection of Blu-rays are currently 3 for $19.99 at Amazon.
All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $8.49
The American (Blu-ray) – $7.80
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.28
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.56
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.57
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $8.53
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Django Unchained (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $9.60
Far From the Madding Crowd (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.10
Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.19
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $7.96
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inherent Vice (Blu-ray) – $10.75
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $9.89
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.56
The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Lincoln (Blu-ray) – $9.94
Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88
Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $8.49
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $5.26
Midnight Special (Blu-ray) – $12.96
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.50
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $4.96
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $9.90
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.34
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.48
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.32
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.48
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $5.98
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $5.81
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $5.20
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.62
The Wolf of Wall Street (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.99
What are you picking up this week?