The 8 Best New Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Releases in October
Media culture is alive and thriving thanks to home video tastemakers from everywhere from The Criterion Collection to Kino Lorber and the Warner Archive Collection. Each month, IndieWire highlights the latest and upcoming Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K releases for cinephiles to own now — and make your movies last. they are there when old movie windows close as soon as they open. .
Start by rounding out your Criterion Closet with these eight monthly media recommendations, which include recent as well as upcoming releases in a given month. This month, we highlight Criterion’s revival of Masahiro Shinoda’s classic kabuki horror story “Demon Pond” as well as Harmony Korine’s slice of the broken Midwest “Gummo,” as well as John Mackenzie’s crime thriller “The Long Good Friday.” ,” and a couple more. of new classics to be in your library.
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‘The Long Good Friday’ (Criterion, Blu-ray, 4K)
Image Credit: ©Embassy Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Director John Mackenzie’s 1980 crime film was named the greatest British crime film of all time by Empire earlier this year, and Criterion’s new 4K upgrade backs up the magazine’s claim in a convincing manner. Former journalist Barrie Keefe’s novel is a marvel of literary pleasure and anthropological detail; Keefe’s story of a deranged gangster (Bob Hoskins in his film debut) having the worst day of his life brilliantly captures London in the early Thatcher days and uses the setting to describe and deepen. the protagonist of the film who longs to have a future. Unlike cool buyers like Michael Caine in “Get Carter” and James Fox in “Performance,” Hoskins plays wannabe capitalist Harold Shand – a villain who wants to get into real estate development because, after All in all, how different is it from what he already does? – with all his feelings in his hand. He’s as intimidating and passionate as he is vulnerable and eager to please, and when his plans fall through the cracks, it’s impossible not to be scared – even if he doesn’t cause a lot of fear over the course of the film. . Criterion’s disc contains special features, including documentaries from the film itself and production company Handmade Films, an audio commentary by Mackenzie, and illuminating interviews and reviews. –JH
Available now.
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‘First Love’ (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Kino Lorber continues its mission to rescue important films that have been neglected in the studio rooms with a brilliant new edition of Joan Darling’s character, a major release since 1977 that has not been seen or sounds good since it came out. A drama about the smooth and sensitive relationship starring William Katt (then starring in “Carrie”) and Susan Dey (“The Partridge Family”) as college students fall in love, the film modest, absurd that may be absurd. big studio today. Darling never got his start as a film director, but on television he was a legend; among her credits were pilots and key parts of shows such as “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” “M*A*S*H,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Taxi, ” “Magnum PI,” and many others. His eye for acting and his ability to create a great environment for the actors is on full display here, with coconut performances not only from Katt and Dey but also from a serious supporting cast that includes John Heard, Beverly D’Angelo, and Swoosie Kurtz in the first place. . Kino’s Blu-ray includes Katt’s emotional soundtrack in conversation with late film historian Lee Gambin to accompany the flawless transfer scanned from the original negatives. –JH
Available now.
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‘The Prince & Me’ (Paramount, Blu-ray)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
This has been a great year for fans of Martha Coolidge, with the Criterion’s excellent production of her obscure debut feature “Not a Pretty Picture” and a host of repertory reviews around the world, which which resulted in a recent performance at the American Cinematheque. “Not a Pretty Picture,” an unflinching and unsettling account of a filmmaker’s sexual assault, would hardly seem like a calling card to a career as a comedic director with a sense of humor. love is simple, but that’s what it led to. Coolidge followed it up with the charming “Valley Girl” in 1983. 21 years later he returned to the romantic comedy genre for “The Prince & Me” and proved that he had never lost his sense of home for timely comedy pieces. , the careful direction of the actors, and the exquisitely refined needle drops – it’s the kind of “effort” in Hollywood filmmaking that only comes out of intense discipline and creativity. Coolidge manages the conventions of mythology well, providing the genre’s traditional satisfaction while imbuing them with personality and nuance, and the film is a great watch – never more so than on Paramount’s Blu-ray reprinted. –JH
Available now.
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‘Words and Music’ (Warner Archive, Blu-ray)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
This 1948 song by songwriting team Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart is short on historical accuracy, but as an example of the old studio system firing on all cylinders it’s unstoppable. The story is just a pretense to inspire a series of musical numbers based on the work of Rodgers and Hart, and the setting delivers; Guest actors lending their talents to the film include Gene Kelly, Lena Horne, Mel Tormé, Perry Como (in his only film before that, rumor has it, he was kicked out of the film industry after swearing drunk MGM studio manager Louis B. Mayer at the party), and especially, Judy Garland when she joined her last screen with “Andy Hardy” expensive Mickey Rooney. The new Blu-ray from Warner Archive boasts a beautiful transfer that showcases the film’s impressive Technicolor, and there are some amazing features including an audio commentary from film historian Richard Barrios. A musical version of “Three Little Words,” which tells the story of Bert Kalmar (Fred Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton), has just been made available from the Warner Archive and has been highly recommended. –JH
Available now.
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‘Death Becomes Her’ (Shout Factory, 4K UHD)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Shout Factory makes Robert Zemeckis’ cult classic “Death Becomes Her” (1992) available in 4K UHD for the first time, working from a new original camera scan. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn play divas fighting for the attention of Bruce Willis, and for the beauty serum that holds the key to eternal life at a great price. Zemeckis’s satirical bitchfest features pioneering in-camera work (including a round mirror used extensively to reveal the bullet hole in Hawn’s arm) and award-winning digital effects of the Academy. That means “Death Becomes Her” is perfect for the 4K treatment. –RL
Available on October 22.
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‘Gummo’ (Criterion, Blu-ray, 4K UHD)
Image Credit: ©Fine Line Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
Long before he was the latest descendant of crowd-pleasing experiments like “Aggro Dr1ft” and “Baby Invasion,” Harmony Korine broke new ground with 1997’s “Gummo.” native of Nashville intended to represent Ohio, Korine looks deep into the American West to follow the daily struggles of poor youth living lives of petty crime that are increasingly disturbing. The new Criterion release features a new 4K digital restoration directed by Korine, as well as a new interview with the filmmaker. — RL
Available now.
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‘Demon Pond’ (Criterion, Blu-ray, 4K UHD)
Credit Credit: Criterion
Masahiro Shinoda’s 1979 synth-scored kabuki performance “Demon Pond” is now available for the first time in the US on home video courtesy of Criterion. Tsutomu Yamazaki plays a traveling man who enters a supernatural world through a reservoir that holds the souls of many dead townspeople. The top of Kabuki, Tamasaburo Bando, has two parts as one half of the evil couple as well as the princess who lives on the water. Director Shinoda and actor Bando managed a new 4K digital restoration, which is supplemented in this release with new interviews and a program about the film’s special effects. –RL
Available now.
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‘In a Violent Nature’ (RLJE Films, Blu-ray)
Image Credit: Courtesy of IFC Films
Chris Nash’s beautifully disturbing and old-garde story follows the formula of a typical slasher movie – an immortal killer wreaks havoc on a group of innocents – but from the killer’s point of view. Nash’s camera is always fixed directly behind Johnny almost like in a video game, but here the viewer has no power over this bloodthirsty killer (who is very angry with his locket of value is stolen) is about to dissolve. IFC Films released “In the Land of Violence” to the arthouse success earlier in the year; now, you can have what IndieWire described as a “comfort movie” for some at home. –RL
Available now.
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