New to View: Nov. 4
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Nov. 4, unless otherwise noted:
CODA (4K Ultra HD)
Details: 2021, Pathé Films-Apple TV+-Allied Vaughn
Rating: PG-13, strong sexual content, language, drug use
The lowdown: This wonderful, Academy Award-winning movie centers on Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), a CODA (child of deaf adults), and the only hearing person in her family.
Ruby is the youngest person in the family, and because she can hear, the burden of being the clan’s spokesperson has fallen on her shoulders.
When Ruby discovers a passion for singing, she must choose between her family obligations and her dreams.
Ruby’s life has been difficult since early childhood because of the cruel jokes by classmates about her parents, played by Oscar-winners Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin. Her older brother, Leo (Daniel Durant), also is deaf.
The weight of all the jibes and family responsibilities weighs heavy on Ruby, with singing becoming her only outlet. When a music teacher encourages her to apply to Boston’s Berklee School of Music.
“CODA’s” tension rests with the expectations of her parents about Ruby’s future. The movie is filled with poignant moments that tear at your insides.
Writer-director Siân Heder’s use of sound — or the lack thereof — is one of the film’s main attractions. At several key moments, the film is totally silent, putting us in the world of the Rossis.
Besides Kotsur’s Oscar for best supporting actor, the movie also was recognized as best picture and for Heder’s screenplay.
“CODA” received a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English and Spanish 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English and Spanish SDH subtitles.
Americana (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: Oct. 28
Details: 2025, Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Rated: R, violence, language, sexual references
The lowdown: A rare Native American artifact is at the center of this modern-day Western starring Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser and Halsey.
Sweeney portrays Penny Jo Poplin, a shy waitress with big dreams, who teams up with Lefty Ledbetter (Hauser), a lovelorn military veteran, to gain possession of the valuable item.
Their attempts make them targets for ruthless criminal Dillon MacIntosh (Eric Dane), who is working for Western antiquities dealer Roy Lee Dean (Simon Rex).
Bloody violence ensues as others join the battle, including Ghost Eye (Zahn McClarnon, the leader of an indigenous group, and Mandy Starr (Halsey), a desperate woman running from her mysterious past.
This wild, violent movie featuring colorful characters earned a 65 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English descriptive audio; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track with writer-director Tony Tost and a making of featurette.
Familiar Touch (Blu-ray)
Release date: Oct. 28
Details: 2024, Music Box Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A compassionate drama about the challenges of aging and shifting memories are at the heart of this drama.
Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant) is a retired cook in her 80s who enjoys preparing breakfast every morning.
Lately, though, small and puzzling errors have begun to encroach on her comfortable routine.
Soon, Ruth finds herself moving into an assisted living facility that she does not remember having selected.
Among the memory care residents, Ruth feels lost and adrift, certain she has found herself somewhere she does not belong.
Gradually, she begins to accept the warmth and support from care workers Vanessa (Carolyn Michelle) and Brian (Andy McQueen) and finds new ways to ground herself in her body as her mind begins a different journey.
The movie, written and directed by Sarah Friedland, is an empathetic look at the winding path of Ruth’s shifting memories and desires. The movie is a bittersweet and affectionate portrait about the changes related to old age, bolstered by Chalfant’s nuanced performance.
“Familiar Touch” garnered a 98 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a roundtable cast conversation, a featurette with Friedland on the film’s creative process, a question-and-answer session with Chalfant and a behind-the-scenes featurette at Villa Gardens.
Shin Godzilla: Limited Edition Steelbook (4K Ultra HD)
Release date: Oct. 28
Details: 2016, Toho
Rated: PG-13, creature violence, action
The lowdown: Godzilla returns in the first feature in Toho’s Reiwa series. The movie was influenced by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster and the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan at that time.
Soon after, a creature emerges from Tokyo Bay and crawls inland causing havoc and death in a couple of Tokyo’s districts.
The creature quickly evolves into a bipedal form and returns to the water.
Officials quickly learn that the creature — named Godzilla after the scientist who discovered and warned governments about it, but was ignored — reappears. It continues to grow and evolve, making weapons useless against it.
Eventually, the creature is stopped, but, of course, sequels are expected as Godzilla never really dies.
The movie garnered an impressive 87 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English and Japanese 3.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a making of featurette, deleted scenes, outtakes, news reels, previsual reel collection, previsual and special effects outtakes and a visual effects breakdown.
Bullets and Blueberries (DVD)
Details: 2025, Virgil Films-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Another documentary that examines the Holocaust, how it originated and who were the perpetrators and executioners.
This genocide began with mass shootings by the Einsatzgruppen in Eastern Europe and was then perfected in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
The movie explores the movies, methods and madness of those who organized and carried out this blot on humanity.
It includes never-before-seen images made by the killers and fully captures the Nazi banality of evil.
Technical aspects: 16×9 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital surround.
Outland: Limited Edition (4K Ultra HD)
Details: 1981, Arrow Video
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Classic Western tropes are launched into outer space in this futuristic feature from writer-director Peter Hyams.
Sean Connery stars as Marshal William O’Neil assigned to Con-Am 27, a mining facility on Io, one of Jupiter’s largest moons.
Once arrived, O’Neil begins investigating a series of deaths among the miners, whose productivity is breaking records.
It turns out, the secret is a drug that can keep the miners working days on end. Over time, though, the drug results in burn-out and psychosis.
O’Neil’s investigation puts his life in danger as company officials will stop at nothing — even murder to keep him silent.
The movie earned a 57 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 LPCM; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include an archival commentary track with Hyams, a new commentary with film critic Chris Alexander, interviews with Hyams, director of photography Stephen Goldblatt and visual effects artist William Mesa, a new appreciation by film scholar Josh Nelson, a visual essay by film historian Howard S. Berger and an illustrated booklet.
SS Experiment Love Camp (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1976, 88 Films
Not rated: violence, nudity, sexual content, language
The lowdown: A movie that is one of the most notorious in the Nazisploitation genre.
Like “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS,” it features scenes of torture, graphic violence and sexual exploitation.
This Italian production, set near the end of World War II, pushed the boundaries of what could be shown on screen.
The movie chronicles the deranged experiments performed on prisoners of war by the sadistic and evil Col. Von Kleiben in his futile attempts to create the perfect Aryan race.
The shocking and nasty film continues to disgust — and sometimes bore — audiences worldwide even today.
This is one of those movies that is so bad, you have to see it to believe how wretched it is.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 LPCM monaural and Italian LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary track with Italian cinema experts Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni Cobretti; interviews with director Sergio Garrone, music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis, editor Eugenio Alabiso and cinematographer Maurizio Centini; Italian opening and closing credits; and a booklet.
Other titles being released in the upcoming week include:
East of Wall (DVD) (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
All’s Fair: Episodes 1-3 (Hulu)
Chad Powers: Episode 7 (Hulu)
Folktales (Magnolia Pictures)
I Really Love My Husband (Night Breeze Productions)
Icefall (Aura Entertainment)
Killing Faith (Radial Entertainment-Shout! Studios)
Naked Ambition (Music Box Films)
Sunfish (And Other Stories on Green Lake (Tribeca Films)
NOV. 5
Down Cemetery Road: Episode 3 (Apple TV+)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney+)
Loot: Season 3, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
The Morning Show: Season 4, Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Murdaugh: Death in the Family: Episode 6 (Hulu)
NOV. 6
A Life’s Worth: Episode 3 (Viaplay)
All Her Fault (Netflix)
Hi-Jack Highway (Kino Film Collection)
Meaning of Life: Season 2, Episodes 1-4 (Viaplay)
Razzia Sur La Chnouf (Kino Film Collection)
Reasonable Doubt: Season 3, Episode 9 (Hulu)
NOV. 7
After All (Brainstorm Media)
Empire of the Rabbits (Film Movement+)
Exit Protocol (Saban Films)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
The Last Frontier: Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
The Nipple Talk: Episode 1 (Film Movement+)
Pistachio Wars (Watermelon Pictures)
Pluribus: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
NOV. 10
Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth (Hulu)
Coming next week: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
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, on Facebook at ReelBob and on Bluesky at @bobbloom1948@bsky.social or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.