New to View: Aug. 9

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Aug. 9, unless otherwise noted:

Heat: Ultimate Collector’s Edition (4K UHD + Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 1995, Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: This three-disc set stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in writer-director Michael Mann’s cat-and-mouse crime thriller about Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino), an obsessive detective who puts catching bad guys ahead of his family, and Neil McCauley (De Niro), a master criminal who lets nothing come between him and his next score.
In the wake of a precision armored car heist, Hanna begins to hunt McCauley’s crew, which pulled the job.
Despite the heat around him, McCauley decides to undertake one last heist before retiring.
The film contains a golden moment in which Hanna and McCauley have a sit down at a restaurant and talk over coffee. It is a powerful scene, a masterclass in acting by Pacino and De Niro — two consummate professionals at the top of their game.
The adversaries gain a mutual respect for each other, but neither is willing to give ground to allow the other to do their jobs.
The movie features an all-star cast, including Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Diane Venora, Natalie Portman and Jon Voight.
The film earned an 88 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 DTS and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH,, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 high definition, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French 5.1 DTS; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Hours of bonus content including a question-and-answer session and commentary track with Mann, a question-and-answer session moderated by writer-director Christopher Nolan, deleted scenes, a three-part making of documentary, a look at the conversation scene between Pacino and De Niro and a return to the scene of the crime featurette.

Little Man, What Now? (Blu-ray)
Details: 1934, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Margaret Sullavan stars in this romantic drama set in early 1930s Germany.
Hans (Douglass Montgomery) is fired from his job because he married his sweetheart, Emma (Sullavan), instead of the daughter of his boss.
Hans and Emma, who is pregnant, move to Berlin, where Hans gets a job as a salesman. But Hans is soon fired for insulting a customer.
They also discover that Hans’ stepmother, with whom they are living, is an infamous madam who runs an exclusive brothel in the city.
Hans soldiers on, sustained by Emma’s love as he tries to find work in a nation beset by economic uncertainty and the shadow of Nazi rule on the horizon.
The movie, directed by Frank Borzage (“A Farewell to Arms,” “Man’s Castle,” “The Mortal Storm”), costars Alan Hale, Catherine Doucet, Paul Fix, Fred Kohler, Mae Marsh, George Meeker and DeWitt Jennings.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major bonus option is a commentary track with filmmaker Alan Arkush and film historian-filmmaker Daniel Kramer.

Yellowbrickroad: Updated Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 2010, Lightyear Entertainment
Rated: Not rated, violence, disturbing images, sexual situations, drug use
The lowdown: A horror feature that begins in 1940 when, after a viewing of “The Wizard of Oz,” the residents of the small town of Friar, New Hampshire, walked up a mountain trail and disappeared into the wilderness.
One resident survived, recounting stories of chaos and death before going insane.
Seventy years later, a group of researchers comprised of history buffs, filmmakers and psychologists, discover the long-forgotten trail marker and begin an expedition of their own to discover what happened to the inhabitants.
What they discover in the woods is not what they expected. The film provides more tension, mystery and goosebumps than gore. An unsettling air hangs over the entire feature.
This new release has been remastered with enhanced special effects. Upon its original release, the movie received a 50 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with the movie’s writers-directors Andy Milton & Jesse Holland, two behind-the-scenes featurettes and cast and crew interviews.

Next Time We Love (Blu-ray)
Details: 1936, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, in one of his earliest leading roles, costar in this romantic drama about newlyweds who face the challenges love, marriage and separation because of career.
Stewart portrays Christopher Tyler, an ambitious young reporter. When his girlfriend, Cicely (Sullavan), comes to visit for a couple of days, they decide to marry.
Soon after, Tyler is posted to Rome as a foreign correspondent, not knowing that Cicely is pregnant. When she delivers, Tyler celebrates, losing a big scoop — as well as his job.
As in many such dramas, economic hardships follow. The couple’s friend, Tommy (Ray Milland), lends Cicely money and offers her the opportunity to become an actress in the theater.
Cicely proves to be a success, which depresses her husband. To save her marriage, Cicely visits her husband’s old boss and explains the situation to him.
The editor decides to rehire Tyler, offering him a post in Russia. He accepts, but Cicely stays in New York with their young son.
Because of the distance between them, over the years, Chris and Cicely’s marriage end. However, they still love each other.
The movie is one of the weepers that drew women to movie theaters in the 1930s.
The behind-the-scenes drama is a bit more interesting than the movie. Stewart and Sullavan first met in the early 1930s at the University Players. Also among the troupe was Henry Fonda, who went on to marry Sullavan.
Stewart and Fonda soon began a lifetime friendship, which is chronicled in Scott Eyman’s excellent book, “Hank & Jim: The 50-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart.” Stewart, it seems, carried a torch for Sullavan, but even after she and Fonda divorced, the two never had a romantic relationship.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with film historian Lee Gambin and costume historian Elissa Rose is the major extra.

The Enormity of Life (Blu-ray)
Details: 2021, Bayview Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Casey (Breckin Meyer) decides to commit suicide when his life hits rock bottom.
His life changes after he receives a phone call informing him that he has received a sizeable inheritance from a distant relative.
Around the same time, Casey meets Jess (Emily Kinney), an eccentric single mother with a precocious, but troubled young daughter, Jules (Giselle Eisenberg), who has an unhealthy obsession with mass shootings.
A wrench is thrown into Casey’s life when his bipolar mother goes missing. Casey enlists the help of Jess, Jules and his estranged sister, Missy (Debra Herzog), to try to find the woman.
The film, a dramedy about connection, love, hope and lost innocence, received a limited theatrical release.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital.

Battle of the Worlds: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1961, The Film Detective
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Claude Rains stars in this Italian science fiction feature from director Antonio Margheriti, known in his native country for his low-budget features, many in a sci-fi vein.
The film begins with an “intruder” planet speeding towards Earth. Rains portrays Benson, a scientist who claims that the planet, which really is an asteroid, will not collide with Earth. Of course, he is proven correct for reasons that are later explained.
The asteroid, dubbed “The Outsider,” begins to orbit our planet, later sending out flying saucers that attack Earth’s space fleet.
Later, a team of astronauts, including Rains’ Benson, is sent to the asteroid, where they discover that computers control the flying saucers as the asteroid’s humanoid creatures are dead and automated systems have taken command.
Earth, of course, is saved, but not without great sacrifice.Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by author-film historian Justin Humphreys and a featurette about Margheriti are the main extras.

Flying Guillotine: Part II (Blu-ray)
Details: 1978, 88 Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This film, also known as “Palace Carnage,” picks up shortly after the events in “Flying Guillotine.”
Outlaw rebel Ma Teng joins a group of female rebels after the bloodthirsty emperor, Yung Cheng, demands that modifications be made to his flying guillotine weapon to counter Ma Teng’s iron umbrella defense.
A female assassin is hired by the emperor to train a squad of women assassins in the use of the new two-stage flying guillotine. Instead, she sides with Ma Teng.
They formulate a plot to enter the palace and assassinate the evil ruler.
The movie is another in a long line of Shaw Brothers martial arts features and like most of them features large doses of action.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Mandarin and English (dubbed) 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major supplemental offering is a commentary track.

Fanny: The Right to Rock (DVD)
Details: 2021, Film Movement
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: In the 1960s in Sacramento, two Filipino-American sisters met with other teenage girls to jam.
This garage band would evolve into the rock group, Fanny, the first all-women band to issue an LP for a major record label.
Despite releasing five critically-acclaimed albums and having a very dedicated fan base of music legends, including David Bowie and Bonnie Raitt, the group’s impact in music was written out of history.
This movie rekindles and celebrates the music and contribution to rock of Fanny, but also documents its next chapter. Its members, now in their 60s, are shown recording a new album.
The documentary showcases how the band had to contend with race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and how the bandmates are now ready to accept their place in history.
The movie earned a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English closed-captioned.
Don’t miss: Extras include five featurettes.

Cocoon (DVD)
Details: 2020, Film Movement
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A coming-of-age story from Germany about Nora, a shy 14-year-old girl, with a troubled mother and boy-crazy older sister.
Nora must face the challenges of adolescence on her own and does so over the course of a summer.
That season is memorable for the teenager; she gets her first period, falls in love with another girl, has her heart broken and ultimately learns to stand up for herself.
The movie feels authentic and believable. It is tender, but not romanticized.
Critics were impressed, giving the film a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1.39:1 full-screen picture; German 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a short Finnish movie, “Summer of Bees.”

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Harper (DVD & VOD) (Indican Pictures)
Hot Seat (Blu-ray & DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (Blu-ray) (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Men (Blu-ray + DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Of the Devil (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment)

FOR KIDS
Gulliver Returns (DVD) (Shout! Kids)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Canvas (Gravitas Ventures)
Dawn (Uncork’d Entertainment)
The Dead Girl in Apartment 03 (Wild Eye Releasing)
Elvis (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)
He Dreams of Giants (Bohemia Media)
My Favorite Girlfriend (Saban Films)
Songbirds (Becket Media Productions)
Tin Can (Dread)
AUG. 12
The Andy Baker Tape (Terror Films)
The Black Phone (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
Five Days at Memorial: Episodes 1-3 (Apple TV+)
This Fool (Hulu)
Lucy’s School (Apple TV+)
Trying: Season 3, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
AUG. 15
Learn to Swim (Netflix)
Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers: Episodes 1 & 2 (Hulu)

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.