New to View: Aug. 26
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Aug. 26, unless otherwise noted:
Lilo & Stitch (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2025, Disney-Buena Vista
Rated: PG, action, danger, thematic elements
The lowdown: A life-action remake of Disney’s 2002 animated feature about a lonely girl named Lilo who adopts Stitch, a rowdy alien “puppy.”
Lilo’s new “pet” — an extraterrestrial who escaped a prison — helps mend the little girl’s broken family, creating havoc along the way.
The film’s Hawaiian setting is picturesque and adds to the movie’s appeal and helps evoke the charm of the original.
“Lilo & Stitch” is still another live-action adaptation of an animated film, and while this is not the best transformation, it certainly is not one of the weakest.
Of course, children are the film’s target audience — and Disney would not mind if parents tagged along.
The film earned a 72 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 Dolby digital descriptive audio; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a making of featurette, a look at scenes from the animated movie alongside their live-action counterparts, a featurette with Stitch talking about his favorite scenes, deleted scenes and bloopers.
Karate Kid: Legends (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2025, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, martial arts violence, language
The lowdown: The initial “Karate Kid” movie premiered in 1984 starring Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki “Pat” Morita. The movie spawned two sequels with Macchio and Morita, a third sequel with Morita and future two-time Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank.
The movies were followed by the “Cobra Kai” streaming series and a “Karate Kid” remake set in China and featuring Jackie Chan.
That brings us to “Karate Kid: Legends,” in which Macchio and Chan reprise their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han.
“Legends” centers on Li Fong (Ben Wang) who relocates to New York City with his mother to attend a celebrated new school, where he finds friendship with a classmate and her father.
But Li’s peace is short-lived after he attracts the attention of a formidable local karate champion. Li, driven by a desire to defend himself, begins training to enter a formidable karate competition.
He is helped by his kung fu teacher, Mr. Han, and LaRusso, who trains Li in Miyagi-Do karate.
Li, of course, wins the tournament. The movie received a 58 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English and French 5.1 Dolby digital audio descriptive tracks; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include deleted scenes, a gag reel, an “Honoring the Miyagi Legacy” featurette, a behind-the-scenes look at creating the action sequences, a look at Wang’s training for the role, a featurette on the cast and a featurette centering on Wang, Chan and Macchio.
Saving Face: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 2004, The Criterion Collection
Rated: R, some sexuality, language
The lowdown: This gay romantic comedy marked the directorial debut of Alice Wu. The movie, set in an energetic, multicultural New York City, uses snappy dialogue and a breathless love story that also features a poignant narrative about a mother and daughter coming to terms with each other.
Wil (Michelle Krusiec) is a very busy young surgical student who has recently begun an encouraging romance with Vivian (Lynn Chen), a flirtatious dancer.
Wil’s life is thrown into turmoil when her more traditional, widowed Chinese mother, Ma (Joan Chen) — who finds herself pregnant — moves in with her daughter. Both women are forced to confront the generational and cultural barriers that have impacted their relationship for many years.
“Saving Face” smartly subverts rom-com conventions with Wu, who also wrote the script, spotlighting a good-natured tribute to the Chinese American diaspora and the joy of liberating one’s true self.
The movie earned an 88 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a commentary track with Wu and Joan Chen, deleted scenes with optional commentary by Wu, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a program with Wu and cast members at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and an essay about the movie by critic Phoebe Chen.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 50th Anniversary Steelbook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1975, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, violence, language
The lowdown: This spoof spotlights the Monty Python troupe retelling the legend of the knights of King Arthur and their quest for the Holy Grail.
Terry Gilliam, who, along with fellow Python Terry Jones, directed the hilarity, makes light of the misery of the Middle Ages as the two, along with fellow Pythons John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin, all of whom had a hand in the script, elicit laugh after laugh for 90-plus minutes.
The movie is basically nonstop laugh-filled situations from start to finish from Knights Who Say Ni!, a three-headed knight, a killer rabbit, the Black Knight and Tim the Enchanter.
“Holy Grail” garnered a 92 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a shorter version of the movie from a VHS release and a 50-year tribute to the movie. The Blu-ray disc features two commentary tracks — one by Gilliam and Jones, the other by Cleese, Idle and Palin; a 2015 Tribeca Film Festival question-and-answer session with Gilliam, Jones, Palin, Cleese and Idle; outtakes and extended scenes with an introduction by Jones; lost animation with an introduction by Gilliam; a “Quest for the Holy Grail” featurette with Palin and Jones; “LEGO Knights: The Knights of the Round Table in LEGO”; a Japanese version of the movie; BBC Film Night location featurette; and three sing-along songs.
Save the Tiger (Blu-ray)
Details: 1973, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, language, violence
The lowdown: Jack Lemmon won his second Academy Award for his portrayal of Harry Stoner, a cynical business who believes that survival is the only significant aspect of life.
Stoner’s instincts push him beyond moral conduct, and to keep his business afloat he will try anything — juggling the company’s books, supply women for clients and even commit arson on his own dress manufacturing company.
Stoner lives in the past, yearning for an America when life had values and heroes as well as worth living and building.
The businessman is frightened to break away from all the emptiness that surrounds his seemingly successful life.
The movie, directed by John G. Avildsen (“Rocky”), encapsulates early 1970s anxiety, painting a dark picture of a dying American dream.
“Save the Tiger” also earned Oscar nominations for Jack Gilford as best supporting actor an Steve Shagan for original screenplay.
At Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received an 86 percent fresh rating.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Two commentary tracks, one by Avildsen and Shagan, the other by film historian-author Dwayne Epstein, comprise the extras.
Smoke / Blue in the Face double feature (Blu-ray)
Details: 1995, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, language, brief nudity
The lowdown: Harvey Keitel stars in these two collaborations from filmmakers Wayne Wang and Paul Auster.
In “Smoke,” Keitel portrays Auggie, manager of Brooklyn cigar store, whose life is intertwined with some of the people he befriends.
Among them are William Hurt as a writer who can’t write, Forest Whitaker as a reluctant father hiding from his past and Stockard Channing as Auggie’s former girlfriend who returns with some surprising news. The cast also includes Harold Perrineau and Victor Argo.
“Blue in the Face” is a follow-up movie in which the cigar shop’s owner threatens to turn it into a trendy vegetarian restaurant, an idea that upsets the neighborhood’s residents, who prove they will do anything to save their beloved hangout.
Besides Keitel, the cast includes Argo, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael J. Fox, Jared Harris, Lou Reed, Roseanne Barr, Mira Sorvino and Lily Tomlin.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an interview with Wang by Kate MacKay, associate film curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; interviews with Auster; a behind-the-scenes featurette on “Smoke”; a Berlin Film Festival press conference on “Smoke”; and an archival interview with Reed about “Blue in the Face.”
Wolf and Dog (DVD)
Details: 2022, IndiePix Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A coming-of-age story centering on Ana, who lives in São Miguel, an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that is ruled by religion and tradition.
Through her close friendship with Luis, a boy who enjoys wearing dresses as much as pants, Ana begins to question the world around her.
With the arrival from Canada of her friend, Cloé, Ana begins a journey of self-discovery that offers new possibilities and desires.
The movie marks the narrative feature film debut of Portuguese documentary filmmaker Cláudia Varejão.
Technical aspects: 4:3 full-screen picture; Portuguese 2.0 Dolby digital stereo; English subtitles.
Just the Two of Us (DVD)
Details: 2023, Music Box Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A French thriller that also serves as a psychological study of obsession and insecurities.
Blanche (Virginie Efira) meets handsome and charismatic Gregore (Melvil Poupaud) at a party. Sparks fly, and Blanche is certain she has found the right man.
A passionate affair begins and, despite concerns about getting very serious too quickly, the pair move to the country — far away from Blanche’s family.
But as she begins her new life with Gregore, Blanche finds herself constrained under the thumb of a man who is deeply possessive, paranoid and potentially dangerous.
She becomes equally desperate to escape Gregore’s iron grasp.
The movie is tense and solidly acted.
Technical aspects: 1.66:1 widescreen picture; French 5.1 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a commentary by film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and an interview with co-writer-director Valérie Donzelli.
Scoop (Blu-ray)
Details: 2006, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG-13, sexual content
The lowdown: This is a minor feature in the filmography of Woody Allen, who wrote, directed and starred in this twisted murder-mystery that costars Scarlet Johansson and Hugh Jackman.
Johansson is Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student visiting friends in London. While watching a stage performance by American magician Sid Waterman (Allen) a.k.a. Splendini, Sondra is shocked to find that she can see and hear the recently departed British journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane).
Joe gives Sondra a hot tip on the identity of the “Tarot Card Killer,” who’s still loose in London.
Sondra begins chasing the story, enlisting the aid of a very reluctant Sid. Her investigation leads her to a handsome British aristocrat, Peter Lyman (Jackman), with whom she falls in love.
She soon discovers that her romance may very well be the dangerous scoop she is pursuing.
“Scoop,” which garnered a 41 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is uneven, repeating themes Allen used in previous movies.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror (3-D) (Blu-ray)
Details: 1968, Kino Lorber-Kino Cult
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Euro horror feature stars Paul Naschy, who also wrote the story and screenplay, as Waldemar Daninsky who is bitten by a werewolf and seeks the aid of a pair of occultists-scientists to rid himself of the curse.
Unfortunately, Dr. Mikhelov and his wife are vampires, forcing Daninsky to unleash the lycanthrope within to save himself.
True, no Frankenstein exists in the movie, but, for the American version, producer Samuel M. Sherman, needed a Frankenstein film for his distributors, so the werewolf who originally infected Daninsky was linked to the Frankenstein family.
The movie’s main appeal is Naschy, who made a career of starring in horror films.
The Blu-ray offers a standard 2D version along with the 3-D release.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with novelist-critic Tim Lucas and a second commentary with film historians Troy Howarth, Troy Guinn and Rodney Barnett; a featurette on the 3-D version with Lucas; deleted scenes; and an alternate opening title comprise the extras.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Baby Assassins 3 (Blu-ray & digital) (Well Go USA Entertainment)
City Hunter: Angel Dust (Blu-ray) (Shout! Studios)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
A Photographic Memory (Kino Lorber)
AJ Goes to the Dog Park (Music Box Films)
Alien: Earth: Episode 4 (Hulu)
The Britto Doc (Tribeca Films)
Brute (Cinephobia Releasing)
Caged (TrialxFire)
AUG. 27
Acapulco: Season 4, Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
Platonic: Season 2, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Robin and the Hoods (Radial Entertainment-Shout! Studios)
Thunderbolts* (Disney+)
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox: Episode 3 (Hulu)
AUG. 28
The Cop (Kino Film Collection)
Diabolik: Who Are You? (Kino Film Collection)
Live Life: Season 2, Episodes 1-4 (Viaplay)
Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (Kino Film Collection)
AUG. 29
The Antique (Film Movement Plus)
Chief of War: Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
Foundation: Season 3, Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Green Fish (Film Movement Plus)
KPopped (Apple TV+)
Oasis (Film Movement Plus)
Peppermint Candy (Film Movement Plus)
Red Sonja (Millennium Entertainment)
Shape Island: Season 2 (Apple TV+)
What We Hide (Gravitas Ventures)
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 X @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.