New to View: Feb. 14

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Feb. 14, unless otherwise indicated:
The Fabelmans (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital & Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, thematic elements, language, some violence, drug use
The lowdown: Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans,” is a touching and spiritual journey that is more about family than about a young man’s growing love of filmmaking.
People who know of Spielberg’s background will be familiar with many of the sequences in this feature cowritten by Spielberg and Tony Kushner.
With “The Fabelmans,” Spielberg looks inward as he never has before. Sure, he has offered glimpses of broken families, most notably in “E.T.,” but he has never been so personal and forthcoming as he is here.
“The Fabelmans” does not fully show how Spielberg becomes a filmmaker, as much as the why. You see it as a young man’s escape from the messiness of family and adult problems he cannot fully grasp nor understand.
The movie is tender and touching, propelled by the heartbreaking performances of Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as Sammy Fabelman’s troubled parents.
Williams especially displays a fragility and inner sadness, while Dano displays the emotional blindspot that builds wedges between the two.
The cast also includes Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle as the teenage Sammy and an unforgettable cameo by David Lynch as a legendary director.
The movie, which garnered a 92 percent fresh rating, is a portrait of an untapped artist stumbling to find his voice and vision. It is a transfixing memory piece that celebrates the power and delights of moviemaking.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English 2.0 Dolby digital DVS, French 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital plus; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English 2.0 Dolby digital DVS, French 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital plus; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 1.85:1 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: Bonus components include a featurette in which Spielberg reflects on how the movie is inspired by his family and personal story, a look at the cast members and how the cast built bridges between their onscreen personalities and their real-life counterparts and a behind-the-scenes look at how the cinematography, music, costuming and set design captured the movie’s look.

Strange World (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Buena Vista-Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, action, peril, thematic elements
The lowdown: This is one of the blandest and dullest Disney animated features I have seen in a very long time.
Plodding and cliché-ridden, it has a messy story and stereotypical characters.
For a feature set in a world of wonders, the film is flat — its colors fail to jump off the screen, and it lacks magic and a sense of awe.
The main conflict revolves around the Clades, a legendary family of explorers. When Jaeger Clade (voiced by Dennis Quaid) abandons his support team to fulfill his obsession of discovering what is “out there,” his young son, Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal), feels abandoned and returns home with the others.
The movie jumps ahead 25 years, showing how Searcher’s discovery of an energy source has enriched the community. Searcher has become a farmer, cultivating and growing the crop that supplies the energy.
But when the crop begins dying for an unknown reason, Searcher is recruited by a former member of his father’s team — who is now president of the community — to join an expedition and help them discover the cause of the disease.
What he and the others find is a, well, strange world, inhabited by very unique creatures that seemingly have no purpose than to chase and harass the explorers.
What they find in his odd domain helps solve the mystery of the dying energy source. They also discover the still-alive Jaeger who, after a quarter century, remains stubbornly focused on reaching his next goal and gaining more glory.
The father-son dynamics are repetitious, tedious and hackneyed. Even though “Strange World” moves around this unusual landscape it feels like it’s only spinning its wheels.
The movie lacks vigor and a sense of urgency. The script is unwieldy and most of the dialogue feels as if it were written with exclamation points.
My opinion, though, is in the minority as the movie garnered a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 descriptive audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include featurettes on the creative process through one specific scene, how real science inspired Disney artists to create the movie’s strange world and meet some of Avalonia’s creatures and inhabitants; deleted scenes; a look at references and characters from some favorite Disney movies hidden throughout the movie; and outtakes.

Romeo and Juliet (Blu-ray)
Details: 1968, The Criterion Collection
Rated: PG, violence, brief nudity, sexual situations
The lowdown: Shakespeare’s tragedy of young love has been filmed many times. But Franco Zeffirelli’s version was applauded for actually casting teenagers — Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who were reportedly 16 and 15 during filming — as the star-crossed lovers. (More on them later.)
The teenage actors are surrounded by a splendid supporting cast, including Michael York, John McEnery, Pat Heywood, Milo O’Shea and Robert Stephens.
The tale, set in Renaissance Verona, deals with the fallout from the feuding Capulet and Montague families, as Romeo and Juliet fall in love amid the familial strife. Zeffirelli brightly displays the couple’s adolescent ardor and turmoil that fuels their secret liaison.
The director is abetted by a delicate Nino Rota score and Academy Award-winning cinematography and costuming.
A new controversy now surrounds the movie as Whiting and Hussey have filed a massive lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, claiming that Zeffirelli and the studio of sexually exploiting them and distributing nude images of the adolescent children.
Whether the suit has merit, is still to be determined.
However, the legal issues should not keep you from watching one of the loveliest adaptations of this timeless love story. The movie earned a 95 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include excerpts from a 2018 documentary on Zeffirelli, interviews with Hussey and Whiting from 1967 and 2016 and an essay about the movie.

The Story of Adele H (Blu-ray)
Details: 1975, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG
The lowdown: Isabelle Adjani gives a stunning performance as Adele Hugo, second daughter of the famed author, Victor Hugo, who slowly descends into madness because of her obsession with an English army lieutenant, Albert Pinson (Bruce Robinson).
The movie is based on the diary writings of Adele, who has followed Pinson to Halifax, where most of the film takes place.
The year in 1863, and Adele cannot take “no” for answer, as Pinson continually rejects her advances and pleas of love.
She even procures other women for him to try to win him over.
Adjani earned a best actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.
The film, directed by and co-written by François Truffaut, is a study in obsession.  It earned a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman is the main extra.

The Bride Wore Black (Blu-ray)
Details: 1968, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: François Truffaut co-wrote and directed this drama about Julia, a bride, played by Jeanne Moreau, whose new husband is murdered just after the ceremony on the steps of the church.
Emotionally devastated, Julia becomes obsessed and begins a descent into madness as she doggedly pursues those responsible for the heinous deed.
The screenplay was adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich (“Rear Window”) and features a score by Bernard Herrmann.
The movie is a homage to the thrillers directed by Alfred Hitchcock, examining a woman ravaged by grief. The movie, which earned an 83 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, costars Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Biraly, Charles Denner, Claude Rich, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger and Alexandra Stewart.
Regard for the movie has steadily grown since its original release, which Truffaut considered one of his weaker films.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with film historians Julie Kirgo, Steven C. Smith and Nick Redman is the main bonus option.

Mississippi Mermaid (Blu-ray)
Details: 1969, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, nudity, sexual situations
The lowdown: Director François Truffaut adapts another Cornell Woolrich novel for a return cinematic journey to the realm of Alfred Hitchcock.
The movie, starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo, is a tale of love, betrayal, passion, obsession and — ultimately — murder.
Belmondo portrays Louis Mahé, a tobacco tycoon living on the Isle de Réunion in the Indian Ocean. There, he meets Julie Roussel (Deneuve), his mail-order fiancée. He falls completely under her spell. They marry, but Julie harbors a dark secret.
The film is filled with several twists and turns, and the finale does seem somewhat preposterous, considering what Julie — which is not her real name — has put Louis through during most of the feature.
Yet it remains an enjoyable mixture of mystery and romance, earning an 82 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman is the main extra.

White Woman (Blu-ray)
Details: 1933, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This is one of those steamy “jungle” features set on a plantation in some far-off locale in which a down-on-her-luck woman is either stranded or marries the plantation owner to escape something — or someone — from her past.
In this feature, Charles Laughton is Horace H. Prin, the cruel and jealous owner of a Malaysan plantation, and Carole Lombard is the widowed nightclub singer who marries him.
When Lombard’s Judith Denning learns of her new husband’s true nature, she finds herself attracted to the plantation’s overseer, played by Charles Bickford, but must keep their affair secret to avoid the wrath of her husband.
As he does in many of his early features, Laughton wildly overacts, using various facial expressions and tics.
The movie also features Kent Taylor, Percy Kilbride, Charles Middleton and Marc Lawrence.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a commentary track with filmmaker Allan Arkush and film historian-filmmaker Daniel Kremer.

“François Truffaut Collection” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1970-78, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This two-disc set features four movies directed by François Truffaut that range from sophisticated comedy to historical drama.
“The Wild Child” (1970), based on true events, stars Truffaut as 18^th-century doctor Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, who takes charge of a young boy discovered by hunters living in the forest like an animal.
He is sent to Paris and placed in a school for deaf-mute children.
However, Itard believes that with proper training, the boy can be transformed into a civilized individual. Itard concludes that the boy, who is named Victor, is neither deaf nor mute and also is intellectually sound. Using patience and kindness, the ambitious doctor devotes himself to educating and civilizing the boy.
The film garnered a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Truffaut again delves into childhood with “Small Change” (1976). The story presents a group of boys and girls who adventures illustrate the various passages of growing from early childhood to adolescence.
The movie is set in the village of Thiers and follows the children from baby bottle to first kiss. It is a touching and enjoyable feature that received a 90 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
“The Man Who Loved Women” (1977) is a sophisticated comedy about a melancholy and lustful drunkard who worships the feminine spirit — the idea of woman.
The movie, which received an 82 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is Truffaut’s examination of erotic love.
“The Green Room” (1978) stars Truffaut as a writer obsessed with death. After surviving World War I, Truffaut’s Julien Davenne constructs a shrine to friends he lost during the fighting.
At the heart of Davenne’s obsession is his late wife, who he honors throughout his house, which is basically a shrine to her.
Davenne makes half-hearted attempts to connect with the living, but appears more comfortable with the dead.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.

Project Wolf Hunting (Blu-ray)
Details: 2022, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A Korean action movie about a group of dangerous convicts being transported from the Philippines to South Korea aboard a cargo vessel unite in a coordinated escape attempt that escalates into a bloody riot.
What the criminals do not realize is that they have unleashed a sinister and deadly force from the bowels of the ship.
The movie is very violent and loaded with gore and features some interesting special effects.
The film, which should not be taken very seriously, will please fans of such productions.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Korean and English (dubbed) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Making of and behind-the-scenes featurettes are the main bonus components.

Let’s Hope It’s a Girl (Blu-ray)
Details: 1986, Raro Video-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A battle-of-the-sexes comedy from Italian filmmaker Mario Monicelli that features an all-star international cast.
The legendary Liv Ullman stars as Elena who, after divorcing her ineffectual husband, Leonardo (Philippe Noiret), takes over the family business in Tuscany.
With her sister, Claudia (Catherine Deneuve) and a support group of female relatives and employees, she gets the family farm up and running again.
When Leonardo returns, hoping to mansplain the correct way to run a business, he is overwhelmed by Elena and the other women handling the affairs.
The movie is a fun story of female bonding and empowerment.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; Italian 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.

Shepherd: The Story of a Hero Dog (Blu-ray)
Details: 2019, Shout! Studios
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This movie, also known as “Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog,” tells of the unbreakable bond between a boy and his pet.
The Nuremberg Laws, passed after the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany, forbade Jews from owning pets.
Kaleb, a German shepherd, is separated from his Jewish family and his beloved 10-year-old master, Joshua.
Kaleb, alone and on the streets, is eventually captured and adopted by an SS dog trainer at a Nazi work camp.
There, he is trained to round up and terrorize Jews.
Later, when a new trainload of Jews arrive at the camp and Joshua is among the prisoners who appears, Kaleb’s past loyalty re-emerges. Soon, the pair attempt to escape the camp and begin a dangerous journey to freedom.
The movie earned an 80 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.

Children of the Mist (DVD)
Details: 2021, Film Movement
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This heart-wrenching documentary is set in the Hmong community in northwest Vietnam.
There, filmmaker Hà Lê Diêm spent three years chronicling the life of the family of 12-year-old Di, documenting her coming of age.
As Di matures into a teenager, her childhood transforms from carefree to an impulsive and sensitive adolescent.
It’s a dangerous temperament because in her insular community, girls must still endure the controversial but accepted tradition of “bride kidnapping.”
And on one Lunar New Year celebration, while Di’s parents return home from the festivities, their house is silent and Di has disappeared.
The documentary, which received a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, documents this disturbing tradition with compassion and skill.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; Hmong and Vietnamese 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A question-and-answer session with the director is the main bonus component.

Framing Agnes (DVD)
Details: 2022, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The Agnes of the title was a transgender woman who participated in an infamous health study conducted at UCLA in the 1960s.
Her clever use of the study to gain access to gender-affirming health care led to her status as a celebrated figure in trans history.
Director Chase Joynt’s movie blends fiction and nonfiction to widen the lens in which trans history is viewed.
A collaboration of re-imagination, led by a cast of trans performers, artists and thinkers, use reenactments to bring groundbreaking artifacts of trans history to life.
The movie puts a spotlight on people who have been forgotten and should be remembered and honored.
The film received a 79 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Joynt’s 19-minute “Framing Agnes” short film that was the basis for the feature is the main extra.

The King of Laughter (DVD)
Details: 2021, Film Movement
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Italian import focuses on one of Naples most beloved playwrights, Eduardo Scarpetta, who staged extraordinary comedic productions with his family troupe.
The onstage comedy was rivaled by the offstage drama and turmoil within Scarpetta’s family and his tumultuous personal life.
In 1904, Scarpetta risked everything with a controversial parody of poet Gabriele D’Annunzio’s “The Daughter of Iorio.”
The production was booed from the stage and Scarpetta was sued for plagiarism, forcing him to defend his art and legacy in a famous legal battle that would culminate in one of his last great performances.
The period drama, which received a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is a period drama that vividly captures the atmosphere of the era.
Technical aspects: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; Italian 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a short film dealing with a Neapolitan singer left disfigured and in a wheelchair after an accident.

Ruth Weiss: One More Step West Is the Sea (DVD)
Details: 2021, IndiePix Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary about ruth weiss, a famed Beat poet and innovator of Jazz & Poetry.
Weiss — who preferred a lowercase designation for her name — lived in Berlin and Vienna in the 1930s before fleeing with her family in 1938 to escape the Nazis.
Once in the United States, she engaged in creative activities in Chicago and New Orleans. After high school, she hitchhiked across the U.S., finally emerging as a poet in San Francisco in the 1960s.
She was one of the first artists to develop the joint genre of Jazz & Poetry, and interacted with such Beat Generation artists as Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Bob Kaufman.
The movie traces weiss’s life, pioneering art and her boundless vision. She maintained her Bohemian lifestyle for decades, even performing on stage at 90.
The documentary is a chronicle of a fascinating individual who led a singular life.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture; English 2.0 Dolby digital; English closed-captioned subtitles.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
House Party (Blu-ray & DVD) (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)
Life and Life (DVD & VOD) (Indican Pictures)
Super Sentai: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger: Complete Series (DVD) (Shout! Factory)
There There (DVD & VOD) (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Amy’s F It List (Indie Rights Movies)
Firenado (Uncork’d Entertainment)
Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber)
Full Swing (Netflix)
Last Night in New York (Apple TV+-Amazon-Peacock)
Perfect Match (Netflix)
Planet Sex with Cara Delevinge (Hulu)
Raquel 1:1 (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Vampus Horror Tales (Uncork’d Entertainment)
FEB. 15
Wu Tang: An American Saga: Season 3, Episodes 1-3 (Hulu)
FEB. 16
Huesera: The Bone Woman (XYZ Films)
FEB. 17
Animaniacs: Season Three (Hulu)
Boy From Nowhere (Amazon Prime)
Dear Edward: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Free to a Bad Home (Terror Films)
Hello Tomorrow!: Episodes 1-3 (Apple TV+)
Make or Break: Episodes 1-4 (Apple TV+)
The Other Fellow (Gravitas Ventures)
Servant: Season 4, Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
Sharper (Apple TV+)
Shrinking: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Truth Be Told: Season 3, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
The Weapon (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
FEB. 20
Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Season 2 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

Coming next week: Empire of Light

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.