New to View: July 13

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, July 13, unless otherwise noted:
Wrath of Man (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2021, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: R, strong violence, language, sexual references
The lowdown: Jason Statham scowls and shoots his way through this bloody revenge thriller directed by Guy Ritchie.
The movie features Ritchie’s usual proclivity for a nonlinear narrative and repeating sequences from various perspectives.
The manner in which “Wrath of Man” unfolds is more interesting than its generic plot and characters. At just a tick under two hours, the movie builds suspense with no let up, while you try to unravel it all.
Statham portrays H, who takes a job as a security guard for a cash truck company. He is enigmatic and basically unfriendly toward his new coworkers, who are rather unimpressed by his demeanor.
All that changes when H single-handedly displays lethal skills during an attempted robbery of the first truck he is guarding. He earns a newfound respect among the other workers.
Ritchie provides a nice group of character actors to serve as decoys and red herrings, as H stops as nothing to discover who is behind a tragedy that upended his world.
Statham puts aside the quips and bits of humor he has brought to recent roles, especially in the “Fast and Furious” franchise features. He is all no-nonsense business in “Wrath of Man” — and God help anyone — man or woman — who gets in his way.
He is ruthless, cold, determined and single-minded. Yet, he seems to have a code of his own that allows him some rare displays of humanity.
“Wrath of Man” is an action-packed diversion, an escapist combination of caper and vengeance that doesn’t let up from beginning to end.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English Dolby digital descriptive audio; English SDH subtitles.

Deep Cover: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1992, Criterion Collection
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Laurence Fishburne stars as Los Angeles police officer Russell Stevens who goes undercover as “John Hull” to take down a powerful Latin American drug ring operating in the city.
As Hull, Stevens partners with David Jason (Jeff Goldblum), a dangerous and ambitious cocaine trafficker.
The movie, directed by Bill Duke, examines the effects on Stevens as he dives deeper and deeper into this world of power, money and violence.
The more he descends, the more disillusioned Stevens becomes, blurring the lines between right and wrong and crime and justice.
The cast also features Charles Martin Smith, Clarence Williams III, Gregory Sierra and Victoria Dillard.
Duke later reteamed with Fishburne and Williams III for the period gangster film “Hoodlum.”
“Deep Cover,” which received an 83 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is a crackling story about the decaying impact of drugs on society and the hypocrisy about the war on drugs.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a new interview with Duke; a 2018 AFI Conservatory seminar with Duke and Fishburne, moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell; a new conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie about the movie’s place within the Black film boom of the 1990s; a new conversation between scholar Claudrena N. Harold and professor, podcaster and disc jockey Oliver Wong about the movie’s title track that featured Dr. Dre’s debut solo single; and an essay about the movie.

Alias Nick Beal (Blu-ray)
Details: 1949, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter and Thomas Mitchell star in this film noir reimagining of the Faust legend, directed by John Farrow.
Mitchell portrays honest district attorney Joseph Foster who wants to run for governor so he can rid his state of corruption and the criminal organization behind it.
Frustrated by the political forces, hindering his efforts, Foster says he would sell his soul to reach his goal.
Enter smooth-talking Nick Beal (Milland), offering to help Foster achieve his dreams. Foster agrees to the deal. To seal it, Beal sends one of his most trusted associates, Donna Allen (Trotter), to keep Foster in line.
Foster rises to the governorship, but eventually realizes he has made a deal with the devil.
Only the intervention of his wife, Martha (Geraldine Wall), and his minister, the Rev. Thomas Garfield (George Macready), can save Foster’s soul and return him to the path of goodness.
The movie’s supernatural overtones are a fetching enticement to view this overlooked and neglected feature.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by Eddie Muller is the major bonus offering.

Objective, Burma! (Blu-ray)
Details: 1945, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Between 1941 and 1945, Errol Flynn starred in six war-related features, including “Objective, Burma!.”
However, the war years were not kind to Flynn; the swashbuckling adventure movies that made him a star seemed out of fashion, he was criticized for not joining the military, even though he had tried to enlist but failed the physical because of recurrent malaria, a heart murmur and other issues.
In 1943, Flynn was tried for statutory rape by two 17-year-old girls. He was eventually acquitted, but the publicity hurt his reputation.
“Objective, Burma!” finds Flynn as Capt. Charles Nelson, who, with a team of 36 commandos, parachutes into Japanese-held Burma to destroy a vital radar installation.
The mission is a success, but when Nelson and his team reach their airstrip rendezvous point, instead of planes they find Japanese troops.
The commandos must flee into the jungle to escape on foot.
Like many war movies produced during the conflict, “Objective, Burma!” is filled with anti-Japanese portrayals and propaganda about the American spirit and might.
The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and can be found at www.wbshop.com/warnerarchive or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (16×9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental features include two wartime shorts, “The Tanks Are Coming” (1941) and “The Rear Gunner” (1943).

House of Wax: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 2005, Scream Factory
Rated: R, horror violence, sexual content, language
The lowdown: The original “House of Wax,” produced in 1953 and starring Vincent Price, was itself a remake of 1933’s “Mystery of the Wax Museum.”
Both movies followed a similar path — a sculptor whose hands were destroyed in a fire, turns to dipping human subjects in wax to make his life-like creations.
This version of the story centers on a group of college friends on their way to a football game when their car breaks down in an eerie backwoods town. The only open building is a House of Wax.
Of course, the teens must fight for their lives to avoid being transformed into wax figures.
The movie is more of the common teens-in-peril horror outing than a remake of the two earlier incarnations.
The cast includes a group of familiar TV faces: Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Paris Hilton and Jared Padalecki. This weak feature was produced by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and Susan Downey — all of whom have been associated with much better movies.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with Hilton, music composer John Ottman and special effects supervisor Jason Baird; B-roll and bloopers video cast commentary; a featurette about the film with Silver; looks at the movie’s design and visual effects; a gag reel; and an alternate opening.

The Great Gabbo (Blu-ray)
Details: 1929, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The legendary Erich von Stroheim stars in this early talkie with musical numbers as an egotistical ventriloquist who is talented by unstable.
Gabbo uses his dummy, Otto, as his means of self-expression. Gabbo’s talent goes as far as having Otto talk while Gabbo smokes, eats or drinks.
Gabbo’s assistant, Mary (Betty Compson), loves him, but is driven away by his megalomania, superstitions and inability to express any emotions in his own voice.
Two years after Mary’s leaving, Gabbo has become a sensation. He finds himself on the same bill as Mary, now a singer-dancer, and her partner, Frank (Donald Douglas).
Gabbo attempts to win Mary back, but all is for naught as she and Frank are married.
In the end, Gabbo goes mad on stage and is fired.
The film originally received lukewarm reviews, but praise for the feature has grown over the years. The release is the original 96-minute version of the movie, but without the color sequences, which apparently are lost.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by author Richard Barrios is the main bonus component.

Rose Plays Julie (DVD)
Details: 2019, Film Movement
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Rose, a veterinary student in Dublin, is consumed with finding her birth mother, despite her loving relationship with her adoptive parents.
When Rose finally tracks down her mother, Ellen, she forces the woman to reveal a painful secret from the past that sends Rose to confront her biological father, played by “Game of Throne’s” Aidan Gillen, shaking her fragile sense of identity to the core and drawing her into a dangerous world of impersonation, deception and revenge.
This British film earned a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English closed-captioned subtitles.
Don’t miss: A short film, “Who Killed Brown Owl,” is the main extra.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
A Soldier’s Story: Return from the Dead (DVD) (Indican Pictures)
Held (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Power of Moths (IndiePix Films)
Skinwalker (DVD & VOD) (Uncork’d Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Downeast (Gravitas Ventures)
Ghost Master (Indican Pictures)
River (Gravitas Ventures)
The Final Ride (Wild Eye Releasing, July 14)
Gunpowder Milkshake (www.netflix.com/GunpowderMilkshake) (Netflix, July 14)
My Unorthodox Life (www.netflix.com/myunorthodoxlife) (Netflix, July 14)
Spiral (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, July 14)
Never Have I Ever: Season 2 (www.netflix.com/neverhaveiever) (Netflix, July 15)
Schmigadoon! Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+, July 15)
Blood Born (Terror Films, July 16)
Die in a Gunfight (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, July 16)
Fear Street Trilogy Part 3: 1966 (Netflix, July 16)
How to Deter a Robber (Shout! Studios-XYZ Films, July 16)
The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Bleecker Street, July 16)
McCartney 3,2,1 (Hulu, July 16)
The Rebels of PT-218 (Shout! Studios, July 16)
The Sleepless Unrest (Gravitas Ventures, July 16)
Jack Irish: Season 3, Episode 2 (Acorn TV, July 19)
Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries: Season 2, Episode 8 (finale) (Acorn TV, July 19)

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.