New to View: Oct. 8
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 8, unless otherwise noted:
Kinds of Kindness (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2024, Searchlight Pictures-Buena Vista
Rated: R, strong, disturbing violent content, sexual content, nudity, language
The lowdown: Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos makes movies that are outside the norm — tackling subjects that make you think or at least scratch your head in wonderment and/or confusion.
His features, such as “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Favourite” and last year’s “Poor Things,” for which Emma Stone received a best actress in a leading role Academy Award, joining Olivia Colman who won the same award for 2018’s “The Favourite.”
“Kinds of Kindness” is a comprised of three short stories — all starring Jesse Plemons, Stone and Willem Dafoe — that are strange, alienating, a bit absurd and filled with dark humor.
The stories center on a man without choice who tries to take control of his life, a police officer who believes that his wife who was missing at sea and returned is not the same person and a woman determined to find a specific individual with a special ability and who is destined to become a great spiritual leader.
The movie, at 164 minutes, does at times test your patience. But watching a film by Lanthimos can be simultaneously fascinating and off-putting — but never dull.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a behind-the-scenes look at the creation and making of the movie and deleted scenes.
The Night Agent: Season One (DVD)
Details: 2023, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This 10-episode action-thriller series, which streamed on Netflix, follows Peter Sutherland, a low-level FBI agent, who works in the basement of the White House manning a telephone that never rings — until it does on his watch.
The call involves Sutherland is a vast government conspiracy involving high-level officials that reach the Oval Office.
The series features red herrings, double-crosses, betrayals and enough characters that you will need a scorecard to keep track of who is working for, with or against whom.
A second season of the series already is in the works.
The cast features Gabriel Basso as Sutherland, along with Luciane Buchanan, Robert Patrick, Hong Chau, Sarah Desjardins, Eve Harlow and Fola Evans-Akingbola.
Technical aspects: 2.20:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track on the first episode with executive producer Shawn Ryan, deleted scenes, a blooper reel and episodes one and 10 VFX shots are included.
I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1943, The Criterion Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The “horror” films produced by Val Lewton at RKO Pictures in the early to mid-1940s were heavy on atmosphere and suspense, leaving most of the horror to the imaginations of the viewers.
The zombies in “I Walked with a Zombie” are far distant cousins from the flesh-rendering creatures offered up in contemporary horror features.
The movie, set on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian, owes a debt to “Jane Eyre, in its story of Betsy, a nurse from Canada, hired to by sugar plantation owner Paul Holland to care for his ill wife, Jessica.
Voodoo spells and rituals permeate the movie, creating an air of dread and uncertainty.
The cast features Frances Dee as Betsy, Ton Conway as Paul Holland, James Ellison as Wesley Rand, Holland’s younger half-brother, Christine Gordon as Jessica, Edith Barrett as Mrs. Rand and James Bell as Dr. Maxwell.
The movie, directed by Jacques Tourneur, garnered an 85 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
“The Seventh Victim,” directed by Mark Robson, centers on a group of devil worshippers in the Greenwich Village area of New York City and the young woman who becomes involved with them while searching for her older sister.
Mary Gibson, portrayed by Kim Hunter in her film debut, leaves the boarding school she has attended after learning about her sister’s disappearance.
During her investigation, Mary meets several of her sister’s friends as well as a husband whom she secretly married. She also meets Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway, reprising his character from Lewton’s “Cat People,” a psychiatrist treating her sister for depression because of her involvement in a satanic cult.
The cast also includes Jean Brooks as Mary’s sister, Jacqueline; as well as Isabel Jewell, Evelyn Brent, Hugh Beaumont, Erford Gage and Ben Bard.
The movie, while not particularly successful on its original release, has gathered a cult following over the decades, reaching a 95 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options on both discs include a commentary track on “Zombie” by author-critic Kim Newman and author Stephen James; a commentary track on “Victim” by film historian Steve Haberman; an interview with film historian Imogen Sara Smith; audio essays on Adam Roche’s podcast “The Secret History of Hollywood” with stories about the casts, crews and productions of both movies; “Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy,” a 2005 documentary featuring Newman, Lewton’s son, Val E., filmmakers William Friedkin, Guillermo del Toro, George A. Romero and Robert Wise actor Sara Karloff and others; excerpts from “The Origins of the Zombie, from Haiti to the U.S.”; an episode of the PBS series “Monstrum, hosted by scholar Emily Zarka; and essays about the movies.
NCIS: Hawai’i: The Final Season (DVD)
Details: 2024, CBS Studios-Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This crime-procedural from the “NCIS” universe lasted only three seasons, which was too bad. Like the other shows in the franchise, this spin-off featured interesting and appealing characters and fun and twisty storylines.
Plus, Vanessa Lachey as Special Agent Jane Tennant was a smart and resilient leader. Cases involved the search for a group of escaped convicts, the search for a high-profile Russian prisoner known as “The Chemist” and a race to neutralize a terrorist group.
To help the show, LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna came on board for the third and final season to help boost the show.
Alas, that was not to be, so the 10 episodes in this three-disc set are the last for this series.
A said, aloha, to an entertaining series.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a featurette on former “NCIS: Los Angeles” cast member Daniela Ruah directing episodes of “NCIS” and “NCIS: Hawai’i,” an overview of season three and a gag reel.
The West Wing: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Release date: Oct. 1
Details: 1999-2006, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This acclaimed television series, created by Aaron Sorkin, is set mainly in the West Wing of the White House where the president’s Oval Office and the offices of his senior staff are located.
The series, which ran for seven seasons, covered many topics — domestic and foreign — during its tenure. The show is a semi-idealized and liberal slant about the workings of the president as his staff.
A strong ensemble cast is headed by Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet. The cast also included Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, Joshua Malina, Stockard Channing and Mary McCormack.
Spencer died in December 2005, and his death was acknowledged as was the passing of his character.
Among the issues touched upon in the series was gun violence, foreign and domestic terrorism, Bartlet’s campaign for re-election and controversies about the Supreme Court and Social Security.
The 28-disc set, which includes all 156 episodes, can be found at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen and 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental features include 20 commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes featurettes, unaired scenes and gag reels.
Caligula:: The Ultimate Cut (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 17
Details: 1979, Unobscured View
Rated: Unrated, violence, sexual content
The lowdown: This historical drama is one of the most controversial and notorious movies ever produced. It has a complicated history involving hardcore sex scenes filmed and added in post-production by “Penthouse” publisher Bob Guccione.
The movie tells the story of the infamous Roman emperor, played by Malcolm McDowell, who succeeds his great-uncle Tiberius, portrayed by Peter O’Toole, to the throne after the murder of Tiberius.
Caligula, who wants to marry his sister, Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy), with him he has an incestuous relationship, but she reluctantly refuses. Instead, he marries Caesonia (Helen Mirren), an infamous courtesan.
As time passes, Caligulia’s darkest personality traits begin to emerge which, over time, leads to his assassination and that of his family.
The Blu-ray highlights the 2023 restored version of the film by producer and reconstructionist Thomas Negovan, which adheres closer to screenwriter Gore Vidal’s original concept. This 178-minute version also was lauded by McDowell.
The two-disc set also includes the 150-minute 1980 theatrical release that includes hardcore scenes wanted by Guccione.
“Caligula” may not be for everyone’s taste, but the restoration at least shows the original intent of what Vidal, whose script was rewritten by director Tinto Brass — who disavowed the 2023 version — was meant to be — a story of how absolute power can easily corrupt individuals.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.00:1 widescreen picture (2023 restoration), 1.78:1 widescreen picture (1980 version); English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (2023 version) and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (1980 version); English SDH and French subtitles (2023 version) and English SDH subtitles (1980 version).
Don’t miss: A “Guccione Scandal” featurette and two commentary tracks, one with Negovan and editor Aaron Shaps and the other with Negovan and author Grant Morrison comprise the bonus materials.
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2024, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, mild action, thematic elements
The lowdown: Zachary Levi stars as Harold in this uneven adaptation of the popular children’s book about an adventurous boy who, living inside of his book, can make anything come to life by simply drawing it.
When Harold grows up, he draws himself into the physical world, where he finds he has a lot to learn, especially when his power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands.
The movie falls flat because of its lack of ideas and formulaic Hollywood storyline. It fails to recreate the spirit of the book.
The charm and sincerity of the book are steamrolled by the feature’s vulgarity and tackiness, which is probably one reason why “Harold” garnered a disappointing 26 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie could be used as a cinematic babysitter for youngsters, but adults and older kids will mostly find it unappealing.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital audio description tracks; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include featurettes on how to draw Harold, Porcupine and Moose, a “Colors” sing-along and “How Do You Spell Imagination?”; and deleted and extended scenes.
The Equalizer: Season 4 (DVD)
Release date: Sept. 24
Details: 2024, CBS Studios-Paramount Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Queen Latifah stars in this reimagining of the popular 1980s TV series. Latifah’s Robyn McCall helps people in distress, using her brains, fighting skills and the help of her friends.
The two-disc set offers all 10 entertaining episodes as the former CIA operative, aided by her friend, former Air Force sniper and current bar owner Melody “Mel” Bayani (Liza Lapira), her husband and computer expert, Harry (Adam Goldberg) and Tony Kittles as NYPD detective Marcus Dante.
At home, McCall as the support of her daughter, Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes) and her paternal aunt Viola “Vi” Marsette (Lorraine Toussaint).
McCall not only helps people who feel overwhelmed by troubles, but also works with police and other law enforcement agencies to prevent threats to the nation.
The DVD can be found at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A gag reel and deleted scenes comprise the bonus materials.
I Remember Mama (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 24
Details: 1948, Warner Archive Collection-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Irene Dunne was one of the most accomplished and versatile performers during the 1930s and ’40s, starring in romantic dramas such as “Love Affair” and “A Guy Named Joe,” musicals such as “Roberta” and “Show Boat,” screwball comedies such as “Theodora Goes Wild,” “The Awful Truth” and “My Favorite Wife” and period pictures such as “Cimarron,” “Life with Father,” “Anna and the King of Siam” and “I Remember Mama.”
Her role as Mama in “I Remember Mama,” earned her the last of her five best actress Academy Award nominations, an award she never won.
“Mama,” directed by George Stevens, is a memory piece, told by one of the children — a writer — about her Norwegian immigrant family living in San Francisco in 1910.
The movie is charming and tender, with a solid cast, including Barbara Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka, Philip Dorn, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Ellen Corby, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee and Barbara O’Neil. Bel Geddes, Homolka and Corby also earned supporting performer Oscar nominations.
The Blu-ray can be found at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (16×9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Close to You (DVD)
Details: 2023, Greenwich Entertainment-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Elliot Page (“Juno,” “Inception”) stars in this story of Sam, a trans man returning home after several years, to celebrate his father’s birthday.
Page, who co-wrote the story with director Dominic Savage, gives a solid performance as he tries to reconnect with his family as well as an old flame he meets on his train ride home.
Interestingly, a lot of the movie’s dialogue was improvised as the cast members followed a written script outline.
The movie, which also features, Hillary Baack, as Sam’s old flame, Wendy Crewson as his mother and Jim Outerbridge as his father.
The interactions between Sam, his parents and siblings — he has two sisters and a brother — are at the heart of the movie.
The dialogue at times is ragged and repetitive, mainly because most of it was improvised. The film received a 65 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Journey into Fear (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 24
Details: 1942, Warner Archive Collection-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Joseph Cotten stars and wrote the screenplay for his adaptation of Eric Ambler’s novel.
The movie is a Mercury Production, produced by and co-starring Orson Welles, as well as Mercury regulars Agnes Morehead and Everett Sloane.
Ruth Warwick as Cotton’s wife and Delores Del Rio as a passenger on the ship he is taking all play supporting roles.
In “Fear,” Cotton portrays Howard Graham, an American engineer who, after a conference in Turkey, discovers that he is the target of assassination by Nazi agents.
Welles, in a small supporting role as Turkish police official Col. Haki, places Graham on a tramp freighter headed back to America, but Gestapo agents also are on the ship.
The movie is a mere 68 minutes, mostly because it was trimmed by about eight minutes at the insistence of RKO Pictures’ studio executives for political and censorship considerations. The Blu-ray, unfortunately, offers only the theatrical version.
The cinematography by the masterful Karl Struss is low-key, stylized and very atmospheric and adds to the suspense sought by director Norman Foster.
The Blu-ray can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other online retailers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (16×9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include three of Welles’ “Mercury Theater on the Air” radio broadcasts — “Dracula” (1938), “Treasure Island” (1938) and “A Tale of Two Cities” (1938).
Monsieur Vincent (Blu-ray)
Details: 1947, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This biopic about the selfless life of Saint Vincent de Paul received an Academy Award for best foreign-language film.
Set in the 17th century, De Paul, who dedicated his life to caring for the poor and the sick through poverty and plague, was born into poverty and sold into slavery. Yet, he survived these adversities to become a respected clergyman as well as a confidante of the nobility.
When the Black Plague reaches France, de Paul reverts to a simple parish priest, rallying the landed class to create charitable organizations to aid the poor.
For his humanitarian efforts, de Paul later was canonized.
Pierre Fresnay gives a compelling performance as de Paul, one of the best of his mercurial career.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by Samm Deighan is the main bonus component.
Conflict (Blu-ray)
Details: 1945, Warner Archive Collection-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Humphrey Bogart stars in this film noir love triangle as Richard Mason, an engineer whose nagging wife, Katherine (Rose Hobart), is driving him to murder.
Mason has another reason for eliminating his wife, he has fallen in love with her younger sister, Evelyn (Alexis Smith).
Shortly after a fifth wedding anniversary celebration, Mason decides to act, killing his wife, making it appear as an accident and leaving no evidence linking him to the crime.
Then, mysterious events occur causing Mason to fear that his wife may still be alive. Is she? You will have to watch to find out.
The movie also features Sydney Greenstreet in a rare protagonist, instead of antagonist role, Charles Drake and Grant Mitchell.
This is not one of Bogart’s best remembered movies, in fact, he did not want to appear in it at all. He only acquiesced after the studio threatened to suspend him.
The Blu-ray can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other Internet retailers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (16×9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include two Warner Bros. cartoons, a pair of Warner Bros. short subjects and 1945 radio broadcast adaptation of the movie featuring Bogart.
Exhuma (Blu-ray)
Details: 2024, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: An occult Korean thriller in which a famed shaman and his protégé are hired by a wealthy, inscrutable family to investigate the cause of a frightening supernatural illness that affects only the first-born children of each generation.
With the help of a very knowledgeable mortician and the country’s most respected geomancer, they are soon able to trace the source of the affliction’s origin to a long-hidden family grave located on sacred ground.
The team, sensing a menacing aura surrounding the burial site, opts to immediately exhume and relocate the ancestral remains. But as something much darker emerges, they soon discover what has befallen those who dare to desecrate the wrong grave.
The movie, which garnered a 93 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, combines cultural, historical and legacy themes with horror thrills and chills.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Korean and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a making of featurette.
Killers: Unrated Director’s Cut (Blu-ray)
Details: 1996, Synapse Films
Rated: Unrated, language, violence
The lowdown: Brothers Odessa and Kyle James escape from Death Row, where they had been awaiting execution for the killing of their parents.
The media-oriented killers, with law enforcement breathing down their necks, take refuge by bursting into a home and taking what seems like an ordinary American family hostage.
At least that is what they believe. But the family is rather strange — the daughters are two of their biggest fans, the mother is not whom she seems to be and the father is more than a match for them.
As a storm rages outside and the cops are closing in, the brothers realize that the police may be the least of their problems.
The movie marked the debut of filmmaker Mike Mendez, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with star Dave Larsen who, along with David Gunn, portray the James brothers.
This the uncut and unrated director’s cut of the film, which features a gory and shocking finale.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio stereo; English SDH subtitles.
Don’s miss: Extras include a commentary track with Mendez and author-horror journalist Michael Gingold, an alternate ending and liner notes by critic-writer Heather Drain.
The Convent (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 2000, Synapse Films
Rated: Not rated, violence, language
The lowdown: As a college graduate, I am starting to resent all these horror films in which coeds go to abandoned places such as morgues, asylums, prisons or hospitals where a seemingly endless supply of evil entities resides to begin killing them off one by one.
In this case, it’s the St. Francis Boarding School for girls in which — back in 1960 — a young woman named Christine kills all the nuns, probably for smacking the palms of the students too often with rulers.
Four decades later, a group of — you guessed it — college students head to the long-empty facility late one night to tag it with fraternity letters. Of course, they ignored all the rumors about the building being haunted, but that’s frat boys for you.
Also involved are some disapproving police officers and, for good measure, a group of Satanists, thus setting the table for a demonic infestation and bloodshed.
Coming to the rescue of all, is the adult Christine, who looks remarkably like Adrienne Barbeau.
The set features the uncensored, remastered version of the film, which also features Coolio and Bill Moseley, all under the direction of Mike Mendez.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio stereo surround; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio stereo surround; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a cast and crew commentary track, a “Lords of Hell” commentary featuring Saul and “Dickie Boy,” a video tour of “The Convent” and “Killers” film locations, a vintage making of featurette, a vintage original studio electronic press kit, an “It’s Always Something with a Virgin” liner notes by Corey Danna, deleted scenes and gore outtakes.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
CIA Drugs R Us! (DVD) (MVD Visual Entertainment)
The Convert (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Magnet Releasing)
Mummy Shark (DVD & VOD) (Wild Eye Releasing)
Thelma (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Magnet Releasing-Magnolia Home Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Borderlands (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Cash Storm (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Dindin (Good Deed Entertainment)
Good Girl Jane (Tribeca Films)
Haunt Season (Dread)
Only Murders in the Building: Season 4, Episode 7 (Hulu)
Slasher (Archstone Entertainment)
Studio One Forever (Gravitas Ventures)
Twisters (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
OCT. 9
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Episode 5 (Hulu)
Bad Monkey: Episode 10 (Apple TV+)
La Maquina (Hulu)
Midnight Family: Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
Slow Horses: Season 4, Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
Tell Me Lies: Season 2, Episode 7 (Hulu)
Where’s Wanda: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
OCT. 10
All and Eva (Viaplay)
Bel-Air: Season 3, Episode 10 (Peacock)
OCT. 11
Daddy’s Head (Shudder)
Disclaimer: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
Dominique (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Falling Stars (XYZ Films)
How to Die Alone: Episode 8 (Hulu)
The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
Mad About the Boy (Greenwich Entertainment)
Mafia Wars (Saban Films)
La Maison: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
My Meta Stories (Film Movement Plus)
Pachinko: Season 2, Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
The Silent Hour (Republic Pictures-Paramount Pictures)
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.