New to View: March 8
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, March 8, unless otherwise noted:
The Matrix Resurrections (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2021, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Watching “The Matrix: Resurrections” was like déjà vu all over again.
The movie felt like a “best of” compilation of sequences, situations and characters from the original “The Matrix” and its two inferior sequels.
“Resurrections” covers the familiar territory of discerning reality from illusion, of heroes finding their paths and a treatise of free will vs. herd mentality.
As long as people feel comfortable, content and safe, they don’t care if their lives are artifice, the older and slower Neo (Keanu Reeves) is told.
Reeves, at the outset, is reintroduced as Thomas A. Anderson. He now is a software programmer, famous for developing a hit video-game trilogy called The Matrix.
That is the first of many self-referential moments sprinkled throughout the movie.
Later, Anderson meets a new, younger Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who offers Anderson a red pill — and we are off to the familiar terrain covered in the original trilogy, which, if you have not seen, may make you feel a bit lost.
From that point, “Resurrections” is straightforward — no surprises and no big reveals.
I found the movie interesting but familiar, like picking up an old dusty book to read again after several years. It’s satisfying, but not extraordinary.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p Ultra HD, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English Dolby digital descriptive audio and English, French, German, Italian and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English Dolby digital descriptive audio and English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Greek, Korean and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include several behind-the-scenes featurettes that look at the making of the movie, cast reactions, special effects and the reuniting of Neo and Trinity.
National Champions (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2021, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, language, sexual references
The lowdown: The movie covers a timely issue — fair compensation for student-athletes. And while the NCAA has made some strides in that direction, many issues remain.
The story begins three days before a college football national championship game. Star quarterback LeMarcus James (Stephan James) and teammate Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) ignite a player’s strike saying they will not compete until all student-athletes are fairly compensated.
This creates a firestorm in which the team’s coach, played by J.K. Simmons, and various school officials and boosters pressure the players and race against time to devise a solution.
The film features a strong supporting cast, including Tim Blake Nelson, Lil Rel Howery, Andrew Bachelor, Jeffrey Donovan, David Koechner, Kristin Chenoweth, Timothy Olyphant and Uzo Aduba.
A majority of critics saw merit in the movie, awarding it a 64 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a behind-the-music featurette, a look at the game and a sports trivia quiz.
Hester Street (Blu-ray)
Details: 1975, Cohen Media Group
Rated: PG
The lowdown: This story of assimilation, directed by Joan Micklin Silver, is set in 1890s New York.
Jake (Steven Keats) has been in America for a few years and now fits well into his community. His wife, Gitl (Carol Kane), disrupts his new life when she arrives with their son.
Cultural clashes — as well as Jake’s girlfriend — create tension and acrimony in the reconstituted household.
Kane received an Academy Award nomination for her heartbreaking, but powerful performance.
The movie, shot in black and white, also features Mel Howard, Dorrie Kavanaugh and Doris Roberts.
It remains a lovely period piece about cultural clashes and beginning a new life in a strange land.
The film earned a 78 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and Yiddish DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include two interviews with Silver, an archival commentary track, archival interviews with cast members and original opening title sequence and outtakes.
The Batman: The Complete Series (Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: March 1
Details: 2004-08, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A six-disc set featuring all five seasons — 65 episodes — of this animated series that looks at the early years of the Caped Crusader when a 20-something Bruce Wayne is learning to balance his daytime persona as a bachelor billionaire with his nighttime guise as a crimefighter.
As the series progresses, Batman is joined by Robin and Batgirl as they battle such familiar foes as The Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Killer Moth and The Everywhere Man.
The soon-to-be Dark Knight also collaborates with such allies as Superman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.
Rino Romano supplies the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Evan Sabara is the voice of Robin. The vocal talent who guest starred throughout the series included Dana Delany, Patton Oswald, Brandon Routh, James Remar, Dermot Mulroney, Robert Englund, Brooke Shields, Edward James Olmos, Frank Gorshin, Dorian Harewood and Jerry O’Connell.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and French and Spanish 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include featurettes on Batman’s evolution and his relationship with his allies; Gotham P.D. file cases; Building the Batman’ “New Look, New Direction, New Knight,” which looks at developing the series; and The Batman’s legendary team-ups; a behind-the-scenes look at season four; and supervising producer Duane Capizzi discussing the series.
Breaking Bread (DVD)
Details: 2020, Cohen Media Group-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s “Master Chef”.
Dr. Atamna-Ismaeel is on a mission to initiate social change through food. One step was the founding of the A-sham Arabic Food Festival, where pairs of Arab and Jewish chefs collaborate on exotic dishes.
The movie celebrates the power of food to overcome political and religious boundaries.
“Breaking Bread” demonstrates the positive results when people focus on individuals and not larger, divisive issues.
The movie earned a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English and Hebrew 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Monster from Green Hell: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1957, The Film Detective
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The success of 1954’s “Them!” unleashed a wave of giant bug films that lasted through the 1950s and beyond. We had “Tarantula,” “The Spider,” “The Deadly Mantis” and “Beginning of the End” (giant locusts).
The low budget “Monster from Green Hell” centers on giant, deadly wasps. Originally sent into space as part of an American program to test the survival rates of animals and insects in preparation for a manned rocket, the rocket with the wasps malfunctions and crash lands somewhere in a remote region of Africa.
Soon, word reaches the American scientists, Dr. Quent Brady (Jim Davis) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin) about a series of deaths on the continent. Brady and Morgan set out to discover if their wasps are the killers.
Arriving in Africa and confirming the wasps are the culprits, the scientists conclude that the insects mutated after being exposed to huge amounts of cosmic radiation.
Along with Lorna (Barbara Turner), the daughter of a local doctor who was killed by one of the wasps, they set off from an area the natives call “Green Hell,” where they believe the wasps are located.
Of course, everything works out well in the end, with the wasps being destroyed in a volcanic eruption.
Many of the movie’s African safari sequences were lifted from 1939’s “Stanley and Livingstone,” with Davis and Griffin dressed as the characters portrayed by Spencer Tracy and Walter Brennan.
And while “Monster from Green Hell” is not considered among the top echelon of giant bug movies, it was one of my favorites as a child, as I watched it many times when it aired during creature feature TV shows.
The Blu-ray features a colorized climax of the movie.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English closed-captioned subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a retrospective of Davis’ career, a commentary track and a booklet with an essay about the men behind the monsters.
A Writer’s Odyssey (Blu-ray)
Details: 2021, Shout! Studios
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A despairing father is hired by a powerful corporation to kill the young author of a fantasy novel.
The father, upset over the disappearance of his daughter, learns that the author’s work is no ordinary book. It seems his fantastic world is merging and impacting the real one.
The father’s journey into this unknown realm reveals hidden secrets as well as the transformative power of art and imagination.
This Chinese feature is a thrill ride that earned a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, where it was praised for its energetic creativity and humanity.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 and 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Chinese 5.1 and English (dubbed) DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
American Gods: Seasons 1-3: The Complete Series (DVD)
Release date: March 1
Details: 2017-21, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Starz series, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, is set in a hidden world where magic is real and gods do exist on earth.
The episodes follow Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) who, after being released from prison and left adrift by the death of his wife, is hired by Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) to be his bodyguard.
Together, they travel across the country, Shadow Moon tries to come to terms with the new reality in which Wednesday has brought as well as his place in it.
The show follows the brewing war between the Old Gods and the New Gods, as the traditional gods of mythology are steadily losing believers to the modern gods who are focused on technology and money.
Overall, the series examines mankind’s conflicted relationship with faith and the unknown.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a documentary on the creation and making of the series, a look at the various gods, a book vs. show comparison, featurettes on the New Gods and the Old Gods, an exploration of the Crocodile Bar, commentaries on various episodes, musings from the cast, an overview of season three, a look at season three’s new gods, Gaiman’s involvement with season two and five questions for the cast.
Highway to Heaven (DVD)
Release date: March 1
Details: 2021, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Jill Scott stars in this made-for-TV movie inspired by the popular 1980s Michael Landon TV series.
Scott portrays Angela Stewart, an angel sent back to Earth to help people in need. Her first effort involves a junior high student struggling with the tragic loss of his mother as he and his father drift apart.
Angela takes a temporary job as a school counselor as she works alongside principal Bruce Banks (Barry Watson) to bring the broken family together.
Whether or not the movie leads to a reboot of the series, Scott is a personable and warm performer who is enjoyable to watch.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
23rd Century Giants — The Story of Renaldo & The Loaf (Blu-ray)
Details: 2021, Well Dang! Productions-MVD Visual Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Brian Poole and David Janssen are a pair mild-mannered Brits — one is an architect, the other a biomedical scientist.
Their hobby was experimenting with tape loops, household objects and repurposed musical instruments to create a wholly unique electronic sound. Think of them as a contemporary version of America’s Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Their sound led them to Ralph Records, an independent label that is owned by an equally strange musical group, The Residents.
At Ralph, the pair released four albums that were successful and inspired other like-minded musicians.
After a 20-year hiatus in their music and friendship, they gained — thanks to the Internet — a worldwide cult status.
The DVD features their music and interviews with the duo.
Their music is infectious, and may even compel the most conservative music lover to check them out.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English stereo audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include 25 minutes of extended interviews, a 1981 Ralph Records promo film, an 8mm film with Renaldo & The Loaf and music videos.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Agnes (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Magnet Releasing)
Invincible (DVD & digital & VOD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Silent Night (Blu-ray & DVD) (RLJE Films)
The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Season 2 (Blu-ray & DVD) (RLJ Entertainment)
Let Me Be Me (DVD) (Greenwich Entertainment-Kino Lorber, March 1)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Adventures in Success (Utopia Releasing)
Heckle (Uncork’d Entertainment)
JFK: Destiny Betrayed (Shout! Studios)
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (Shout! Studios)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
Stronger by Stress (Gravitas Ventures)
The Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix, March 9)
A Peloton of One (Global Digital Releasing, March 11)
The Adam Project (www.netflix.com/TheAdamProject) (Netflix, March 11)
Fear (Film Movement, March 11)
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (Apple TV+, March 11)
The Last Possession (Terror Films, March 11)
Life After Death with Tyler Henry (www.netflix.com/LifeAfterDeathWithTylerHenry) (Netflix, March 11)
Moon Manor (Good Deed Entertainment-Cranked Up, March 11)
Severance: Episode 5 (Apple TV+, March 11)
Suspicion: Episode 7 (Apple TV, March 11)
Pam & Tommy: Episode 8 (Hulu, March 12)
Coming next week: West Side Story
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.