New to View: Feb. 4
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Feb. 4, unless otherwise noted:
A Real Pain (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2024, Searchlight Pictures-Buena Vista
Rated: R, language, some drug use
The lowdown: Actor Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and costars in this movie about mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieren Culkin) who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother.
But as the adventure ensues, old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. The outspoken Benji and reserved David seem to be always at odds as they explore Poland with their tour group.
The film delves into the ties that bind family members — their pasts and present — and the generational trauma that impacts their lives and relationships.
This accomplished feature earned Culkin a best supporting actor Academy Award nomination, while critics awarded the movie an impressive 96 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French, Polish and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: A making of featurette is the main bonus offering.
Wicked (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2024, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, scary action, thematic and brief suggestive material
The lowdown: This first part of a two-part adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical about the untold story of the witches of Oz.
Cynthia Ervio is Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman who has yet to discover her own power, and Ariana Grande is Glinda, a popular, self-centered young woman who has yet to discover her true heart.
The two meet at Shiz University where they forge an unlikely friendship that is tested when their lives take different paths after meeting the Wizard of Oz.
The movie’s songs and colorful production design will impress you. The problem is the movie is much too long at 160 minutes — a drawback that makes it feel ponderous instead of exciting and airy.
“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu, costars Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Peter Dinklage and Bowen Yang.
The Blu-ray features the theatrical and sing-along versions of the movie, which received an 88 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and 2.0 Dolby digital DVS and French and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a commentary track with Chu, another with Ervio and Grande, a making of featurette and deleted and extended scenes.
Juror #2 (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2024, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: PG-13, violent images, language
The lowdown: A legal thriller directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Nicholas Hoult as journalist Justin Kemp, a married man with an expectant wife, who is called for jury duty on a murder case.
Selected, he soon comes to realize that he may somehow be involved with the crime that is the center of the trial. Kemp, facing a moral dilemma, tries to sway the jury in its deliberations.
Adding to his stress is the prosecutor, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), who is running for district attorney and using the trial as a springboard.
The movie is more Perry Mason-like courtroom shenanigans than actual court proceedings. Still, it is a decent drama, though supporting cast members J.K. Simmons and Keifer Sutherland, don’t have much to do. The cast also includes Chris Messina and Zoey Deutch.
Critics seemed to enjoy the movie, awarding it a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie can be found at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos TrueHD, English Dolby digital and descriptive audio and French and Spanish Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Punch-Drunk Love: Combo Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 2002, The Criterion Collection
Rated: R, strong language, sexual dialogue, violence
The lowdown: Adam Sandler gives one of the best performances of his career in this Paul Thomas Anderson touching romantic comedy.
Sandler portrays Barry Egan, a shy, timid and lonely man who runs a bathroom supply business, selling themed toilet plungers and other novelty items. Egan has seven sisters who constantly ridicule and abuse him emotionally, leading to occasional violent outbursts.
One day, after witnessing a car accident, Egan discovers an abandoned harmonium in the street. He also meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), a co-worker of Egan’s sister, Elizabeth. Lena had seen Barry’s picture in Elizabeth’s family photo at work and wanted to meet him.
After an outburst at a family birthday party during which his sisters mercilessly ridiculed him about his sexuality, Egan exploded, breaking sliding glass doors.
He asks his brother-in-law to refer him to a therapist,, but instead Egan calls a phone sex line to deal with his loneliness. This backfires as the operator tries to extort him and sends four brothers to collect money from him.
All this complicates Egan’s budding romance with Lena as well as a loophole in a Healthy Choice promotion to amass a million frequent-flyer miles by purchasing a large quantity of pudding.
Between Egan’s sisters and the four henchmen after him, the relationship with Lena faces a few obstacles. In the end, though, Egan and Lena find happiness together.
The movie, which costars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán and Mary Lynn Rajskub, earned a 79 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials in the Blu-ray disc include “Blossoms & Blood,” a short piece by Anderson with Sandler and Watson and music by Jon Brion; an interview with Brion; behind-the-scenes footage of a recording session for the movie’s score; conversations between curators Michael Connor and Lia Gangitano about the use of art by Jeremy Blake in the movie; additional artwork by Blake; a Cannes Film Festival press conference; an NBC News interview with “pudding guy” David Phillips; deleted scenes; Scopitones; a Mattress Man commercial; and an essay about the movie.
House M.D.: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan 28
Details: 2004-12, Universal Studios Home Entertainment-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A 39-disc set featuring all eight seasons of this medical drama starring Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital’s Chief of Diagnostic Medicine.
House is known for his enormous intellect and his frightening bedside manner.
Over the eight seasons, and 177 episodes, House solves complex medical mysteries that have baffled other physicians while pushing professional boundaries and dealing with his own demons, House, it seems, is a misanthrope and cynic as well as being dependent on pain medication.
Others in the cast included Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard and, as various members of House’s diagnostic team, Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, Jessie Spencer, Kal Penn, Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson.
Guest stars who appeared included Amanda Seyfried, David Morse, Chi McBride, Matthew Lillard, Leighton Meester, Michael B. Jordan and Cynthia Nixon.
The set can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include alternate takes, bloopers, an original short episode, commentary tracks with writers and producers, audition tapes, a tour of the set and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Mick Jagger: The Ultimate Performer (Blu-ray)
Details: 2021, Rising Sun Media
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the life and career of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, one of the most iconic and influential performers in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
For more than 50 years, Jagger and the Stones have provided satisfaction to millions of fans and music lovers.
The documentary offers perspectives on Jagger from such contemporaries as Mick Taylor and Bob Geldof as well as footage of Jagger performing on stage.
This made-on-demand Blu-ray, a reissue of a 2001 release, that can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other online retailers. Fans of Jagger will enjoy this 60-minute feature.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 16:9 widescreen picture; English stereo.
Gabriel Over the White House (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 28
Details: 1933, Warner Archive Collection-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A Depression-era, pre-Code political fantasy in which a party hack who is elected president of the United States is transformed into a savior-like figure determined to fix all of America’s problems by any means necessary.
Seen today, the movie is somewhat dark and simplistic with a bend toward fascism as a solution to the nation’s problems. It’s a grim ideology that, unfortunately, seems to be again taking root today.
Walter Huston, who portrayed Abraham Lincoln in D.W. Griffith’s 1930 biopic about the 16th president, is Judson “Judd” Hammond, an amiable, but somewhat corrupt official who simply offers the usual bromides and defers on issues to his party’s leaders.
But after a serious car accident, in which Hammond hovers near death, the president makes a miraculous recovery and is transformed. It seems he is under the divine influence of the Archangel Gabriel and the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.
The new Hammond sets out to force the government to aid those impacted by the Great Depression, creating an Army of Construction, firing his Cabinet and forcing Congress to adjourn.
Hammond takes near-dictatorial powers influenced by Thomas Jefferson’s ideas of democracy — the greatest good for the greatest number.
He overturns Prohibition, creates a federal police force to deal with gangsters and racketeers and persuades other nations into signing a disarmament treaty.
After the signing, Hammond collapses and dies.
The movie received mixed reviews, depending on the political persuasion of the era’s newspapers.
The film, a definite product of its time, can be ordered 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.
Don’t miss: A trio of cartoons — “Bosko in Person,” “Buddy’s Beer Garden” and “The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon” — comprise the bonus offerings.
Incubus: Limited Edition (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 14
Details: 1966, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Leslie Stevens, creator of the classic TV series “The Outer Limits,” wrote and directed this strange supernatural thriller starring a pre-“Star Trek” William Shatner.
Adding to the oddness is Stevens decision on using the obscure Esperanto language, which did not help it get theatrical bookings.
Shatner plays Marc, a former soldier wounded in battle, who travels to the remote village of Nomen Tuum to find a well where the waters are said to be blessed with healing powers.
But that is just a come-on to entice victims to the town where demonic seductive women lead men into damnation.
One of these women, Kia (Allyson Ames), tries to seduce Marc, but fails. She soon becomes attracted to him, but he refuses to have sex with her unless they marry.
Of course, when Marc carries Kia to a cathedral she is repulsed by its Godly images as well as Marc’s pure love. Events go downhill from there, with an incubus raping and killing Marc’s sister and Kia finally seeing the light.
An interesting aspect of the movie is that its cinematographer was future three-time Academy Award-winner Conrad Hall, assisted by an uncredited William K. Fraker. Stevens’ “Outer Limits” composer, Dominic Frontiere, provided the score.
The movie is offered in widescreen and full-screen formats.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Esperanto LPCM monaural; English subtitles and Esperanto SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; Esperanto LPCM monaural; English subtitles and Esperanto SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a new commentary track by writer-genre historian David J. Schow, author of “The Outer Limits: The Official Companion”; a 2001 commentary by Shatner; a 2004 commentary by Hall, Fraker and producer Anthony Taylor; an isolated score track; a short explanation of the open matte feature; a featurette on movies in Esperanto; a history of Esperanto; interviews with Taylor, Hall and Fraker by Schow; and an insert booklet.
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes / Silver Blaze Double Feature (Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 7
Details: 1935, 1937, Film Masters-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The game’s afoot in these British features starring Arthur Wortner as Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming (not the author, a different Fleming) as Dr. John H. Watson.
“The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes” (1935) is an adaptation Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Valley of Fear,” in which a newly-retired Holmes becomes involved in a murder plot involving an American secret society, the Scowrers — fictionalized version of the Molly Maguires.
The movie also features Holmes’ traditional foe, Professor Moriarty (Lyn Harding), who really has little to do.
“Silver Blaze” (1937), as known by its American title, “Murder at the Baskervilles,” finds Holmes and Watson visiting their friend Sir Henry Baskerville, and getting involved in a double murder, the disappearance of the famous race horse, Silver Blaze, and his old enemy, Professor Moriarty, who seems to be behind the entire affair.
Wortner was one of the better Holmes performers, ranking with the likes of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett.
The Blu-ray can be found at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English closed-captioned subtitles.
The Cell: Limited Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Release date: Jan. 21
Details: 2000, Arrow Video
Rated: R, nudity, sexual content
The lowdown: Jennifer Lopez stars in this thriller as Catherine Deane, a psychologist who is asked by the FBI to use experimental technology to enter the mind of Carl Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio), a comatose serial killer, to learn the location of his latest trapped victim.
Deane enters the dark dreamscape of Stargher’s psyche, attempting to learn his secrets before it is too late. Danger lurks as his unconscious is a twisted nightmare, a labyrinth that threatens to trap her inside his scary mind forever.
The film received mixed reviews, with some critics praising it as a dark thriller, while others labeled it formulaic.
The 4K Ultra HD disc features the 107-minute theatrical and 109-minute director’s cuts of the movie, while the Blu-ray offers an alternate theatrical cut of the film.
The cast also includes Vince Vaughn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Dylan Baker.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras on the 4K disc include four commentary tracks: an archival one with director Tarsem Singh, a new one with film scholars Josh Nelson and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, another new one with screenwriter Mark Protosevich and film critic Kay Lynch and a fourth, also archival, with director of photography Paul Laufer, production designer Tom Foden, makeup supervisor Michèle Burke, costume designer April Napier, visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug and composer Howard Shore; and new interviews with Singh and Laufer. Extras on the Blu-ray include Laufer offering background on the alternate version; a visual essay by Heller-Nicholas offering her thoughts on how Singh alludes to art in the film; film critic Abbey Becker’s visual essay on the costuming; archival cast and crew interviews; deleted scenes; special effects vignettes; and an insert booklet.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
The Invisible Raptor (Blu-ray & DVD) (Well Go USA Entertainment)
DIGIITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
A Reluctant Heart (One Tree Entertainment)
Cash for Gold (Freestyle Media)
Good Bad Things (Music Box Films)
One Again (For the Very First Time) (Indican Pictures)
Paradise: Episode 4 (Hulu)
Sistas: Complete Seasons 1-5 (Hulu)
FEB. 5
Love You to Death (A Muerte): Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
Mystic Quest: Season 4, Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
Prime Target: Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
FEB. 7
Don’t Say It (One Tree Entertainment)
Severance: Season 2, Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
Suze (Tribeca Films)
Jazzy (Vertical)
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.