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.
April and the Extraordinary World (Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci)
Most writing on Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci‘s April and the Extraordinary World speaks as though they’ve adapted one of revered Frenchman Jacques Tardi‘s graphic novels. This isn’t quite the case. What they’ve actually done is bring his unique “universe” to life with help from previous collaborator Benjamin Legrand (writer of Tardi’s Tueur de cafards) instead. Legrand and Ekinci crafted this alternate steampunk version of Paris as something inspired by the artist’s work rather than born from it. Tardi in turn helped by drawing original work later brought to life by Desmares’ animation team. The whole is therefore a culmination of its six-year production schedule populated by multiple creative minds working in tandem throughout. It may look familiar, but it’s very much brand new. – Jared M. (full review)
High-Rise (Ben Wheatley)
As soon as the voice of Tom Hiddleston‘s Dr. Robert Laing was heard speaking narration above his weathered and crazed visage manically moving from cluttered, dirty room to darkened feverish corner, my mind started racing. Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas popped into my consciousness and then his Brazil, after a quick title card shoves us back in time to watch as Laing enters his new concrete behemoth of a housing structure, oppressively standing above a vast and still parking lot. Add the clinical precision of Stanley Kubrick dolly shots and the chaotic, linear social ladder climb of Snowpiercer with a bitingly satirical wit replacing the high-octane action and you come close to describing the masterpiece that is Ben Wheatley‘s High-Rise. – Jared M. (full review)
The Last Days in the Desert (Rodrigo García)
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of last year’s Sundance Film Festival slate, Last Days in the Desert, follows Jesus (and Satan), both played by Ewan McGregor, as he’s in the final steps of his contemplative 40-day journey before returning to civilization in Jerusalem. Far removed from the recent bombastic Biblical tentpoles Noah and Exodus, Rodrigo García‘s beautiful, spare drama can frustrate as much as it allures with meditations on finding meaning in one’s life (and beyond). – Jordan R. (full review)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The eminently idiosyncratic films of Yorgos Lanthimos revile the societal constructs that stifle and pervert human interaction. In laying bare these structures’ inherent hypocrisies, the films exaggerate their logic to absurd extremes, with conformity’s noxious ramifications always at the crux of Lanthimos’ critique. His exceptional breakthrough Dogtooth eviscerated the institution of the modern family, representing it as emblematic of society’s greater normative oppression. Dogtooth’s similarly incisive yet less warmly received follow-up Alps exposed the pretence fundamental to the forming of social identity. His newest film, The Lobster, takes on the rigid preconceptions surrounding relationships. – Giovanni M.C. (full review)
Louder Than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
Joachim Trier‘s latest may not reach the heights of his two excellent previous features — Reprise and Oslo, August 31st — but it’s still a tenderly realized drama full of great, small moments. Featuring strong performances from the ensemble, which includes Isabelle Huppert, Jesse Eisenberg, and Gabriel Byrne, it’s interesting to see how Trier approaches American culture as he explores the difficulty of communication for those in this estranged family. – Jordan R.
Also Arriving This Week
The Girlfriend Experience: Season 1
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Keanu (review)
The Knick: Season 2
Sea Fog (review)
Recommended Deals of the Week
All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $7.90
The American (Blu-ray) – $7.05
Amelie (Blu-ray) – $6.31
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.96
Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.61
Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $8.57
Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49
The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $13.99
Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99
The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $10.61
Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.00
Far From the Madding Crowd (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Frank (Blu-ray) – $8.99
Godzilla (Blu-ray) – $8.98
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Greenberg (Blu-ray) – $5.10
The Guest (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.59
The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99
Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.99
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89
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) – $9.99
Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $8.79
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49
Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.85
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $5.26
The Master (Blu-ray) – $9.87
Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $8.63
Moneyball (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $8.97
Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.70
No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $6.99
Pan’s Labyrinth (Blu-ray) – $7.99
ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $6.49
The Piano (Blu-ray) – $7.34
A Prophet (Blu-ray) – $7.70
Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99
Rio Bravo (Blu-ray) – $5.99
Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99
The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.06
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $6.32
Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.83
Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79
A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80
A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $5.99
A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $5.93
Somewhere (Blu-ray) – $5.20
Son of Saul (Blu-ray) – $14.99
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $9.15
The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $7.04
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.42
Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95
Waltz With Bashir (Blu-ray) – $6.50
Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99
The White Ribbon (Blu-ray) – $8.60
The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.19
What are you picking up this week?