New to View: March 7
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, March 7, unless otherwise noted:
Women Talking (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, mature themes, sexual assault, bloody images, language
The lowdown: From the outside, it is easy ask why women in abusive relationships simply don’t leave.
The answer or, in this case, answers are complicated and multifaceted as writer-director Sarah Polley impressively demonstrates in “Women Talking.”
The movie, based on a best-selling book by Miriam Toews, deals with a group of women in an isolated religious community who grapple with reconciling their cruel reality with their faith.
The film takes place during an afternoon and evening in which eight women meet in the community’s barn to debate whether to stay or flee. Most of the men have been arrested on rape or sexual abuse charges after it was learned they had been drugging the women, then convincing them that their post-attack injuries were the work of the devil or demons.
“Women Talking” is a painful movie. Not in a physical manner, but in the way the women reveal what they have been through and try to filter it with their strong belief in God. At times, their anguish jumps from the screen into your soul.
It is striking that the women are not of one mind: some talk about killing the men when they return; others want them banished. Still others advocate for leaving the community, while a few believe forgiveness is the righteous path to follow.
As the title suggests “Women Talking” is a dialogue-driven movie, and the women’s voices that propel the film. Their tones run the gamut from anger to fear to uncertainty about a future without the men.
An all-star cast, featuring Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey and Frances McDormand, hits a nerve within you as you listen in disbelief how God and religious tenets were controlling devices used by the community’s men to subjugate the women.
“Women Talking,” which garnered a 91 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is shocking and compelling, making you want to somehow reach out and help them.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.76:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 DVS and French 5.1 DTS digital surround; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.76:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital and 2.0 DVS; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: March 28
Details: 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, action violence, rude humor, language, scary moments
The lowdown: The devil-may-care, swashbuckling feline discovers that he has burned through eight of his nine lives — though, who’s counting? — in this animated feature from the “Shrek” universe.
To get back those lives, Puss must enter the Black Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star. The catch is that Puss in Boots, with one life left, must humble himself and ask his former partner and nemesis, Kitty Softpaws, for help.
They are joined by a talkative and cheerful mutt named Perro.
The trio will need to stay one step ahead of the fairy tale realm’s craftiest crooks, including Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The movie impressed a vast majority of critics who awarded it a 95 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, 2.0 Dolby digital DVS, French 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital plus; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a short film, “The Trident,” deleted scenes, featurettes on the cast of characters and other behind-the-scenes looks at the movie.
The Inspection (Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Feb. 21
Details: 2022, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: R, language, sexual content, nudity, violence
The lowdown: Writer-director Elegance Bratton’s semi-autobiographical movie, Jeremy Pope stars as Ellis French, a young, gay Black man who, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, enlists in the Marine Corps.
There, Pope does whatever it takes to succeed despite the brutal system that would toss him aside.
Throughout, he battles prejudice and the grueling routine of basic training while finding strength in camaraderie and support from some of his fellow recruits.
Pope begins to feel a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape the future of his life.
This candid feature, which earned a 90 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, costars Gabrielle Union as Pope’s bigoted mother. Others in the cast include Raúl Castillo and Bokeem Woodbine.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with Bratton, a making of featurette and deleted scenes.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Feb. 28
Details: 2022, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, drug content, language, suggestive references, smoking
The lowdown: This formulaic bio-pic fails to display the power and magnetism of the late singer.
And while Naomi Ackie does a fine job as Whitney Houston, lip-synching to a plethora of the singer’s greatest hits. She is, however, undercut by a script that is more a summary of her life rather than a full-blown portrayal of the singer.
The movie fails to go deeply into Houston’s personal life, though it does touch on her drug use, marriage and other relationships.
Overall, the movie is a superficial examination of a singer who deserves a much better story.
The movie, directed by Kasi Lemmons (“Harriet”), did not impress critics, who gave it a 43 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English and French 5.1 Dolby digital audio description tracks; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include three behind-the-scenes featurettes, “Moments of an Icon,” “Becoming Whitney” and “The Personal Touch”; deleted scenes; and “Whitney’s Jukebox.”
Fill ’er Up with Super (Blu-ray)
Details: 1976, Radiance
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A French import about Klouk (Bernard Crombey), a car salesman, who has to miss a family holiday to deliver a luxury Chevrolet station wagon to his boss’ wealthy client.
The movie is basically a road trip feature as Klouk decides to invite his friend, Phillippe (Xavier Saint-Macary) to join him for company on the long drive across the length of France.
Along the way, they pick up Charles, a hitchhiker and his friend, Daniel, respectively played by Etienne Chicot and Patrick Douchitey).
This buddy film developed through the years-long friendship of the four actors, with a lot of the dialogue being improvised under the direction of Alain Cavalier.
The movie is an examination of friendship and masculinity.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; French 2.0 LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include archival interviews with cast members, an appreciation of the movie and an interview with Cavalier.
The House That Screamed (Blu-ray)
Details: 1970, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Spanish horror film is a 19th-century gothic tale set at a boarding school for wayward girls run by the authoritarian Senora Fourneau (Lilli Palmer).
Teresa, a new girl at the school, soon learns of several girls who have mysteriously vanished.
Senora Fourneau endeavors to keep her teenage son, Luis, away from the girls in the school to keep him from being tainted by sexual relations. She tells him he must wait for a girl “just like his mother.”
You don’t need to be film scholar to figure out what is going on in secret at this school.
The movie, which includes scenes of sadism and lesbianism, has been restored to its director’s original full-length 105-minute running time and is presented as “The Finishing School,” with the U.S.-released 94-minute version being “The House That Screamed.”
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Spanish and English 2.0 LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary track, interviews with cast members John Moulder-Brown and Mary Maude, author Juan Tebar, who wrote the original story, Alejandro Ibáñez, son of the movie’s director, and a talk with a Spanish film scholar.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Christmas Bloody Christmas (Blu-ray + DVD) (RLJE Films)
Ghost Town (DVD & digital & VOD) (Uncork’d Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
End of Loyalty (Uncork’d Entertainment)
History of the World, Part II: Episodes 3 & 4 (Hulu)
Lonesome (Dark Star Pictures)
Missing (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Rebroken (Gravitas Ventures)
MARCH 8
History of the World, Part II: Episodes 5 & 6 (Hulu)
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (Netflix)
Wu Tang: An American Saga: Season 3, Episode 6 (Hulu)
MARCH 9
History of the World, Part II: Episodes 7 & 8 (Hulu)
Sound of Silence (XYZ Films)
MARCH 10
Dear Edward: Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Hello Tomorrow!: Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
I Got a Monster (Greenwich Entertainment)
Liaison: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
Servant: Season 4, Episode 9 (Apple TV+)
Shrinking: Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
This Land (Terror Films)
Truth Be Told: Season 3, Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Unicorn Wars (GKids)
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.