New to View: Aug. 20

By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Aug. 20, unless otherwise noted:
Green Border (Blu-ray & VOD)
Details: 2023, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A drama that looks at the European migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border.
The film looks at the problem through multiple perspectives — a Syrian family fleeing ISIS and caught between brutal border guards in both countries; young guards ordered to viciously reject the migrants; and activists who, at great risk to themselves, aid the refugees.
Director Agnieszka Holland paints an uncompromising portrait and displays deep compassion in a blistering critique of an ongoing humanitarian calamity that continues with no letup.
The movie, which was the winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, was criticized by the Polish government.
Critics were impressed with the feature, awarding it a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.00:1 widescreen picture; Polish, Arabic, English and French 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A question-and-answer session with Holland, director of photography Tomasz Naumiuk and stars Behl Djanati Atai and Joely Mbundu is the main bonus offering.

Just Mercy (4K Ultra HD)
Release date: Aug. 13
Details: 2019, Warner Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: PG-13, thematic material, racial epithets
The lowdown: In an ideal world, the justice system is blind and balanced so that all individuals, no matter their race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, age or gender, are treated equally and fairly.
Unfortunately, we do not live in such a world; thus, inequities — especially those influenced by race and economic status — are prevalent.
“Just Mercy” is a powerful indictment of such a perversion in the legal machinery and how one young lawyer took on the establishment to correct a grievous wrong.
Michael B. Jordan stars as Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard Law School graduate, whose idealism beckons him to Monroeville, Ala., to appeal the murder conviction of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), a black man on death row for the 1986 killing of an 18-year-old white girl.
The movie, based on true events, follows Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), as he battles to prove McMillian’s innocence and reveal the prejudice in the Monroe County sheriff’s department and its district attorney that led to McMillian’s arrest and conviction.
“Just Mercy,” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and based on a book by Stevenson, emits an old-fashioned vibe that recalls another movie set in the area — “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The movie shows how, even in the 1980s, deep-rooted antiblack sentiment and flagrant discrimination still permeated many areas of South.
Cretton and his cast bring such strong sincerity to the project that its impact is deeply felt despite its familiarity.
At the end, “Just Mercy” will make you think about judicial abuses that have robbed many people — the vast majority of whom are minorities — of their rights as American citizens.
A majority of critics were moved by the film, which can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com, giving it an 83 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p high definition, 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and TrueHD, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include a making of featurette, a look at the Equal Justice Initiative, deleted scenes and a “This Moment Deserves” featurette.

Black Mass (4K Ultra HD)
Release date: Aug. 13
Details: 2015, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: R, graphic and bloody violence, language, drug use, sexual references
The lowdown: Over his long career, Johnny Depp has portrayed many characters who were bizarre or lived on the fringes of society.
From “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ed Wood,” the Mad Hatter, “Sweeney Todd” to Capt. Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, Depp has engaged and entertained us with his ability for making odd people seem real.
One role Depp has never tried is an out-and-out monster — until now. In “Black Mass,” he creates a cold and barbaric killer, a psychopath who disdains the rules of civilized society and follows his own code.
The irony is that the character he portrays, James “Whitey” Bulger, is real. Bulger was the infamous Boston gangster who headed the Irish Winter Hill mob and was ferocious and unmerciful in his dealings with everyone who got in his way.
Bulger, who fled Boston in 1994 and was finally captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011, was able to commit mayhem for so many years because he was under the protection of the FBI as an informant for the bureau.
This is the crux of “Black Mass,” as it examines the unholy alliance between Bulger and the agency in the person of John Connolly, a fellow “Southie” who grew up with Bulger and his brother, Billy, then a powerful Massachusetts state senator.
Depp dominates “Black Mass.” His Bulger is a cold-blooded reptile, a human cobra ready to strike at the slightest provocation. His eyes, which director Scott Cooper emphasizes in several close-ups, always are on the alert for betrayal or the slightest sign of weakness.
Behind those steely blue slits is a heartless and brutal creature who kills without compunction or the slightest modicum of guilt.
The movie, which garnered a 73 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 (16:9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.

The Last Unicorn: Limited Edition Steelbook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1982, Shout! Studios
Rated: G
The lowdown: An animated fantasy from the Rankin/Bass production team about a unicorn who hearing that she may be the last of her kind on Earth, sets out to seek others like her.
Her journey takes her to the evil King Haggard and his infamous Red Bull (not the drink!).
Complicating the unicorn’s quest is a spell transforming her into the beautiful Lady Amalthea as to avoid the envious wrath of the king.
With her new body comes new thoughts and feelings as Amalthea falls in love with Haggard’s son, Prince Lir.
Amalthea must deal with her true identity, conceal her true self so she does not share the fate of the other unicorns and try to defeat the king and Red Bull.
She is aided by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and Molly Grue.
The talented vocal cast includes Mia Farrow as the Unicorn and Amalthea, Christopher Lee as Haggard, Jeff Bridges as Lir, Alan Arkin as Schmendrick, Tammy Grimes as Molly Grue as well as Angela Lansbury, Rene Auberjonois, Keenan Wynn and Robert Klein.
The movie, which garnered a 77 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, features music and songs by Jimmy Webb, performed by America.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a profile of writer Peter S. Beagle, who adapted his own novel to the screen; a making of documentary; a question-and-answer session with Beagle; and animated storyboards.

Prime Cut (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1972, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, violence, nudity, sexual situations
The lowdown: Lee Marvin stars Nick, as a mob enforcer sent to Kansas City to collect money from an affable but deadly mobster, “Mary Ann,” played by Gene Hackman, who deals drugs and runs a prostitution-human trafficking ring.
Hackman has no intention of paying his debt.
The film, directed by Michael Ritchie, is brutal and disturbing with several killings, double dealings, rape and a hint of homosexuality.
The cast includes Sissy Spacek in her first credited role, as well as Angel Tompkins, Gregory Walcott, Janit Baldwin and Eddie Egan.
The film received a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Two commentary tracks, one by Marvin biographer Dwayne Epstein, the other by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, comprise the main extras.

“Peril & Distress” (4K Ultra HD)
Details: 1970, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A pair of 1970 British thrillers, “And Soon the Darkness” and “Sudden Terror” (aka “Eyewitness”) are featured here.
“And Soon the Darkness” stars Pamela Franklin (“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”) as Jane and Michele Dotrice as Cathy, British nurses bicycling through the desolate French countryside.
After meeting a mysterious stranger on a lonely section of road, the women become separated of which route to take, and, soon after, Cathy disappears.
Jane, whose French is limited, does not know whom to trust as she frantically searches for her friend. The film offers a twist ending that many smart moviegoers can probably guess.
“Sudden Terror” stars Mark Lester (“Oliver!”) as Ziggy and Susan George as Pippa, his older sister, in a political thriller about a boy with a wild imagination who claims he witnessed a political assassination. The boy, claiming the assassins are hunting him, flees with his sister.
They are aided by their grandfather, played by Lionel Jeffries. The movie follows two storylines — the assassins, dressed as policemen, trying to capture Ziggy — and Ziggy trying to convince everyone that he is telling the truth.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 (“And Soon the Darkness” and 1.66:1 (“Sudden Terror”) widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentary tracks by director Robert Fuest and co-writer-co-producer Brian Clemens, moderated by journalist Joseph Sothcott, and film historian Troy Howarth on “And Soon the Darkness”; and by director John Hough and uncredited writer-producer Bryan Forbes, narrated by Sothcott, and film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson on “Sudden Terror.”

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
The Clean Up Crew (Saban Films-Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Crumb Catcher (Music Box Films)
EFC (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Green Border (Kino Film Collection)
Inside Out 2 (Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Nicholas Nickleby (Kino Film Collection)
The Private Eye (Amazon Prime)
Sea Level 3: Dolphin Boy (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
AUG 21
Bad Monkey: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
Sunny: Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Time Bandits: Episodes 9 & 10 (Apple TV+)
Women in Blue (Las Azules): Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
AUG. 22
Bel-Air: Season 3, Episode 4 (Peacock)
Reasonable Doubt: Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2 (Hulu)
Secret Life of Orangutans (Netflix)
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (Kino Film Collection)
AUG. 23
All Eyes on Me (Film Movement Plus)
Catching Dust (Amazon Prime-Apple TV+)
Hell Hole (Shudder)
Hostile Dimensions (Dark Sky Films)
Incoming (Netflix)
Lady in the Lake: Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
Love 2020 (Prime Video)
Pachinko: Season 2, Episode 1 (Apple TV+)
Place of Bones (The Avenue)
The Secret Art of Human Flight (Level 33 Entertainment)

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.