New to View: Jan. 23

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Jan. 23, unless otherwise noted:
Special Ops: Lioness: Season One (Blu-ray)
Details: 2023, Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A three-disc set featuring all eight episodes of this Paramount+ spy thriller series created by Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”).
The premise follows a Force Recon Marine Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira) who is recruited into the CIA’s Lioness program with the assignment of befriending the daughter of a terrorist financier.
Manuelos’ superior in the field is Joe (Zoe Saldana). Together they work undercover among those who they suspect are financing state terrorism.
The cast also includes Nicole Kidman as Kaitlyn Meade, a high-ranking CIA official in the program and Joe’s superior, and Morgan Freeman as U.S. Secretary of State Edwin Mullins.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and French 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus components include behind-the-story featurettes, an “Embedded with Special Ops: Lioness” featurette, a look inside the series, cast interviews and a “Battle Forged Calm: Tactics & Training” featurette.

Trolls Band Together: Sing-Along Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: Jan. 16
Details: 2023, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, mild, rude and suggestive humor
The lowdown: In this sequel, Poppy and Branch are officially now a couple. And as they grow closer, Poppy discovers that Branch has a secret past — he was once a member of her favorite boyband, BroZone, with his four brothers.
The band broke up when Branch was still a baby, and he has not seen his brothers since. But when his brother Floyd is kidnapped by a pair of pop-star villains, Branch and Poppy embark on a journey to reunite the brothers and save Floyd.
The cast of this family-friendly, animated feature include Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Daveed Diggs, Kid Cudi, Eric André, Troye Sivan, Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells.
The movie earned a 60 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, where it was praised for its music and sweetness and, at 91 minutes, is short enough to hold the attention of its young target audience.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, 2.0 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 and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 DVS; English and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include deleted scenes; an original short, “It Takes Three”; a “How To: Hug Time Bracelets”; and a “Hi, Hi, Hi” featurette.

The Raid: Redemption (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Jan. 16
Details: 2011, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated, brutal, bloody violence, language
The lowdown: In this action-packed Indonesian sequel an elite SWAT team is ordered to a Jakarta slum to raid a safe house apartment building used by the world’s most dangerous killers and gangsters.
The SWAT team uses the pre-dawn darkness to begin its operation, but they are spotted and find themselves stranded on a floor in the building surrounded by murderers.
A rookie member of the unit, who was instructed to hang back, must now go into action to rescue his comrades and take down the brutal crime lord leading the horde of killers.
The movie’s nonstop, scene-after-scene fight choreography is impressive, helping the movie garner an 87 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; Indonesian/Bahasa Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), English and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; Indonesian, English and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with director Gareth Evans, behind-the-scenes video blogs, a featurette on the score, a conversation with Evans and composers Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese, an evening with Evans, Shinoda and Trapanese featurette, an anatomy of a scene featurette with Evans, Claycat’s “The Raid” and a “Raid” TV show ad.

Coming Home (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 16
Details: 1978, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, sexual content, language, violence
The lowdown: Director Hal Ashby directed this drama of the devastating aftermath of the Vietnam War wrapped in the cloak of a traditional love triangle.
The cast is headed by Jane Fonda, Jon Voight and Bruce Dern; Fonda and Voight won Academy Awards (her second) for their portrayals, while Nancy Dowd, who wrote the story, and Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones, who adapted it, received Oscars for their original screenplay.
Fonda plays Sally Hyde who, after her husband, Capt. Bob Hyde (Dern), leaves for Vietnam, volunteers at a local hospital where she meets Luke Martin (Voight), a former sergeant whose wartime injury has left him a paraplegic.
Martin is filled with rage and frustration, but finds strength and a new outlook through his friendship with Sally, that eventually transforms into an intimate relationship.
The bond also changes Sally’s outlook on love and the horrors of war.
When Capt. Hyde, wounded and disillusioned, returns home, it creates problems and tensions that will change three lives forever.
At times, the love triangle overshadows the movie’s political message. Still, it received an 83 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary track with Voight, Dern and cinematographer Haskell Wexler and featurettes on the movie and Ashby.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians are Coming (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 16
Details: 1966, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This satiric Cold War comedy is a product of its time — looking rather quaint, especially in today’s geo-political climate.
A Soviet submarine, commanded by a sightseeing captain (Theodore Bikel), runs aground off the coast of a New England island, the second-in-command is ordered ashore to get help from the local residents in moving the sub so as to avoid an international incident.
Naturally, the locals immediately believe that the Russians, who are masquerading as Norwegian sailors, are invading leading to all sorts of comic and convoluted misunderstandings.
Alan Arkin made his film debut as Lt. Rozanov, the sub’s second-in-command. The cast also includes Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Keith, Jonathan Winters, John Phillip Law, Ben Blue and Paul Ford.
The film is rather sympathetic to the Soviet sailors as it details the paranoia and hawkish reactions from the American residents.
The movie garnered an 86 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Among the bonus offerings are a commentary track with filmmaker-historian Michael Schlesinger and Mark Evanier and an archival featurette with director Norman Jewison.

Your Lucky Day (Blu-ray)
Details: 2023, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: R, language, strong violence, sexual material, nudity
The lowdown: A dispute over a winning lottery ticket escalates into a deadly hostage situation in which the witnesses must decide how far they will go — and how much blood they will be willing to spill — for a cut of the $156 million winnings.
This suspenseful feature offers a few twists that keep you engaged in the film, as characters make surprise choices and some moral compromises along the way.
At 89 minutes, the movie moves quickly, earning an 86 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 16:9 (enhanced) widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.

The Sea Shall Not Have Them / Albert R.N. (Blu-ray)
Details: 1953, 1954, Cohen Film Collection-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Lewis Gilbert (“You Only Live Twice,” “The Spy Who Loved Me”) directed these two suspenseful World War II dramas.
“The Sea Shall Not Have Them” (1954) a Royal Air Force bomber is forced to crash in the North Sea. Four Allied men struggle to survive in a lifeboat. One of them, portrayed by Michael Redgrave, is carrying highly classified information on the new German V-2 rockets.
An air-sea rescue ship is ordered to brave rough seas to rescue them before the lifeboat drifts to the Netherlands or a Nazi U-boat captures the men.
“Albert R.N.” (1953), also known as “Break to Freedom,” is a prisoner-of-war movie in the vein of “Stalag 17” and “The Great Escape.”
After several escape attempts go wrong, the POWs think an informer has been planted among them. To thwart this, one POW invents Albert, a model papier-mâché, that fits onto a collapsible torso built to fool the guards and making escape possible for one man.
The movie contains some dark humor that relieves the tension.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.

Run Silent, Run Deep (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 16
Details: 1958, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster co-star in this tense World War II naval drama directed by Robert Wise.
Gable portrays “Rich” Richardson, a dedicated submarine commander who previous vessel was sunk by a Japanese ship.
Richardson is placed in a new command where he drills his new crew to the point of mutiny, driving them to perfectly trained for the battle to come.
He is opposed and resented by his XO Lancaster’s Lt. Jim Bledsoe, who had been passed over when Richardson was given command.
The two constantly clash over Richardson’s hard-driving methods, and it accelerates when Bledsoe learns that Richardson’s major obsession is finding — and sinking — the Japanese ship that sank his vessel.
The movie, which costars Jack Warden, Brad Dexter, Don Rickles and Nick Cravat and features a score by Franz Waxman, received a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
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 with filmmaker-historian Steve Mitchell and Steven Jay Rubin, author of
“Combat Films: American Realism,” is the main extra.

Jennifer 8: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1992, Scream Factory
Rated: R, violence, terror, language, brief nudity
The lowdown: A police thriller about a serial killer finds Andy Garcia playing a small-town detective trying to solve a series of murders of young women.
Uma Thurman plays Helena, the blind woman who may hold the key to solving the killings. The police files have given the designation of “Jennifer” to the seven previous unsolved deaths.
The film offers some red herrings and twists before the real killer is unmasked.
The supporting cast includes Lance Henriksen, Kathy Baker, Kevin Conway, John Malkovich, Bob Gunton and Graham Beckel.
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 two cuts of the movie, including an alternate ending; a retrospective featurette on the movie with writer-director Bruce Robinson, Garcia and Henriksen and a deleted alternate ending.

Wolf Pack (Blu-ray)
Details: 2022, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A physician, trained in various tactics, seeks answers about the suspicious death of his father.
To do so, he infiltrates a mercenary group and soon uncovers an international conspiracy that involves foreign terrorists and could threaten the lives of millions.
This action-filled movie is fast-moving and fun, with lots of combat encounters.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 16:9 (enhanced) widescreen picture; Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
The Adolescent (Kino Now)
Death and Other Details: Episode 3 (Hulu)
The Last Repair Shop (Disney+ & Hulu)
Lumiere (Kino Now)
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Kino Lorber)
Wish (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment-Buena Vista)
JAN. 24
Criminal Record: Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
JAN. 25
The Ballad of Little Jo (Amazon Prime-Kino Lorber)
Hold Me Tight (Amazon Prime-Kino Lorber)
JAN. 26
American Star (IFC Films)
Bad Hombres (Screen Media)
Behind the Haystacks (Film Movement Plus)
Masters of the Air: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
The Seeding (Magnet)
Trunk (Amazon Prime)
Under the Fig Trees (Film Movement)
The Underdoggs (Amazon Prime)

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.