New to View: Sept. 8
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Sept. 8, unless otherwise noted:
Minions & Monsters: Collector’s Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2026, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, violence, action, language, rude and macabre humor
The lowdown: Like the recent film, “Once Upon a Time in the Cinema,” “Minions & Monsters” celebrates the joy, wonder and amazement of movies.
This animated feature is an affectionate nod to Golden Age Hollywood as well as being aimed at movie fanatics and their children.
The story, set in the 1920s, tells of how the Minions became movie stars, lost everything and unleashed monsters onto the world. They then united to try saving the planet from the mayhem they created.
An impressive array of vocal talent contributed to the movie’s enjoyment including Trey Parker, George Lucas, Jeff Bridges Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Pierre Coffin.
Critics enjoyed the movie, rewarding it with an 89 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos and French and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital plus; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, 2.0 DVS and French and Spanish 7.1 Dolby digital plus; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus elements include featurettes on the inspiration for the making of the movie and the voice talent casting; a behind-the-scenes look at composer John Powell’s creation of the score and how it was inspired by Hollywood’s golden age; a step-by-step guide on how to create your own Irene blob monster slime; a guide to how to make your own Minions-inspired monster movie; and lessons on how to draw several of the characters.
28 Days Later: Limited Edition Steelbook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 1
Details: 2002, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, strong violence and gore, language, nudity
The lowdown: Cillian Murphy stars as Jim in director Danny Boyle’s feature about the rage virus.
Jim, waking from a coma in a deserted London hospital, starts wandering the deserted streets totally confused about what has transpired.
Joining a group of other survivors, Jim learns that a deadly virus was released and has been spreading quickly. A chimp, infected with the virus, escaped from its cage in a medical research lab.
“28 Days Later” was the first of four movies that focused on the Rage. It was followed by “28 Weeks Later,” “28 Years Later” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”
The original was a financial and critical success, garnering an 87 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra-high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a making of featurette, deleted scenes with commentary, alternate endings with commentary, a running Polaroid gallery, animated storyboards, a production still gallery and a Jacknife Lee music video.
Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
Details: 1930-69, Warner Archive Collection-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Another Blu-ray spotlighting animated shorts from the Warner Bros. library. The 50 cartoons in this set feature studio staples such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd. Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety and Sylvester.
The set also includes the first Looney Tunes, 1930’s “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub,” and Merrie Melodie, “Lady, Play Your Mandolin.”
Other titles on the disc include “Billboard Frolics,” “Country Mouse,” “Don’t Axe Me,” “Don’t Look Now,” “A Feather in His Hare,” “My Green Fedora,” “A Pizza Tweety-Pie,” “Slightly Daffy,” “Trick or Tweet,” “Ballot Box Bunny,” “Daffy — the Commando,” “Duck Soup to Nuts,” “Goldimouse and the Three Cats,” “Herr Meets Hare,” “I Got Plenty of Mutton,” “Really Scent” and “Stage Door Cartoon.
The disc can be ordered at www.moviezyng.com or other online sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (with side mattes) (16:9 enhanced); English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major extra includes a series of commentaries by animation experts.
Jackie Robinson (Blu-ray)
Release date: Aug. 25
Details: 2016, PBS-Allied Vaughn
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Ken Burns’ two-part PBS documentary examines the life, career and cultural and political impact of Jackie Robinson, who crossed Major League Baseball’s color line — shattering a gentleman’s agreement among owners that had denied African Americans access to the so-called “national pastime” for decades.
Robinson rose from humble beginnings, serving as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II and, after the war, was chosen by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Branch Rickey to integrate baseball.
But to do so, Robinson had to promise Rickey to “turn the other cheek,” and not fight back, but to use his skills as a ballplayer to answer the racists and critics who attacked and hurled abuse on him.
The documentary covers all aspects of Robinson’s life, including his marriage and partnership with his wife, Rachel, who helped him through the touch times of his early career.
Burns also examines Robinson’s post-baseball life and career, his fearlessness in speaking out against the discrimination he observed on and off the field — which angered fans, the press and even some teammates, who simply wanted him to be a baseball player.
Robinson wore many hats after he retired — a businessman, political activist and an outspoken advocate for civil rights.
Burns offers a balanced assessment of Robinson — the athlete and the man — who, late in life, struggled to remain relevant to a new generation of leaders who set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.
He was an icon who never was afraid to speak out no matter the cost.
The Blu-ray can be found 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 and Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a featurette on The Anderson Monarchs, outtakes and a conversation with the filmmakers.
“The Pink Panther Masterpiece Collection” (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1963-78, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: G, PG
The lowdown: Fans of Peter Sellers will enjoy this five-disc set featuring the comic actor’s performances as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
The plots are secondary to Clouseau’s ridiculous and physical antics.
The set spotlights “The Pink Panther” (not rated, 1963), “A Shot in the Dark” (not rated, 1964), “The Return of the Pink Panther” (G, 1975), “The Pink Panther Strikes Again” (PG, 1976) and “Revenge of the Pink Panther” (PG, 1978).
The movies all were directed by Blake Edwards. The supporting casts include Herbert Lom, Robert Wagner, David Niven, Capucine, Elke Summer and Christopher Plummer.
The crimes are secondary to the laughs the movies create. And the opening credits featuring the animated Pink Panther also are worth viewing.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture (“The Pink Panther,” “A Shot in the Dark” and “The Return of the Pink Panther”) 2.39:1 widescreen picture (“The Pink Panther Strikes Again” and “Revenge of the Pink Panther”); English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus tracks include a commentary by Edwards on “The Pink Panther”; commentaries by Jason Simos of the Peter Sellers Appreciation Society on “A Shot in the Dark, “The Return of the Pink Panther” and “The Pink Panther Strikes Again”; a commentary by film historian William Patricky Maynard on “Revenge of the Pink Panther”; a documentary; and 12 featurettes covering the series.
T.A.G.: The Assassination Game (Blu-ray)
Details: 1982, Synapse Films
Rated: PG, violence
The lowdown: A group of students try to “murder” each other with rubber-tipped toy dart guns in this college-based feature.
If a player is killed, he is out of the game.
But one player wants to win at all costs — even going so far as actually murdering the competition.
“T.A.G.,” directed by Nick Castle, adds tension as he spins the concept into a cynical and charming thriller.
The cast features Robert Carradine is the lead, Linda Hamilton, in her feature movie debut, Bruce Abbott as the deranged student who hates to lose, as well as Michael Winslow, Perry Lang and Kristine DeBell.
The movie also marked the feature film debut of Forest Whitaker.
“T.A.G.” is a forgotten little gem from the 1980s worth checking out.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by Castle and Carradine, moderated by Sean Clark of “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds,” is the main extra.
Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (Blu-ray)
Details: 2003, Kino Lorber-Kino Cult #50
Rated: Not rated, graphic, disturbing and bloody images
The lowdown: It was more than 60 years ago that I took drivers ed in high school. It was instructive, but mostly boring and repetitious — that is, until the day they showed us the film.
You know which one — the title may have varied from locale to locale. It could have been “Signal 30,” “Mechanized Death,” “Wheels of Tragedy” or “Death on the Highway.”
The aim of these movies was to scare us into becoming safe drivers — and I guess for many of us it did.
These movies were produced in Mansfield, Ohio, between 1959 and 1979.
The movies were graphic, force-feeing high school teens color and bloody footage of the consequences of careless or reckless driving — smashed-up vehicles, blood-stained wreckage, injured bodies and corpses.
“Hell’s Highway” interviews the filmmakers, who shot mostly on 16mm, responsible for this educational movement, which began to disappear from classrooms in the 1970s and ’80s.
Because of new technology in filmmaking — improved special effects and CGI — those old movies almost appear quaint when — and if — seen by new drivers in the 21st century who came of age viewing the violent, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination horror and slasher movies that began to proliferate in the 1980s and onward.
Too bad, because a little shock to the system may still be able to save some lives.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a commentary by “Hell’s Highway” writer-director Bret Wood; restorations of three highway safety films, “Mechanized Death” (1961), “Wheels of Tragedy” (1963) and “Highways of Agony” (1969); extended excerpts of other highway safety films; deleted scenes; and the complete 2003 pre-restoration version of the movie.
Man of War (Blu-ray)
Details: 2026, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: R, strong violence, bloody images, language
The lowdown: LaMonica Garrett stars as an elite American special forces veteran whose latest mission, set against the turmoil of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, becomes personal when his adopted daughter, an aid worker, is held hostage by Russian mercenaries.
The veteran is forced to navigate a brutal landscape filled with destruction, fire and betrayal to successfully complete his rescue mission.
The cast also includes Jason Patric, Andrew Howard, Rosemary Yaneva and Daniel Bernhardt.
The action sequences are the movie’s best parts and main reason for checking it out.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.38:1 (16:9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH and French subtitles.
Roaring Fire (Blu-ray)
Details: 1981, Toy Robot Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Joji was raised in Texas, but at the death bed of his adoptive father, the young rancher learns that he has a twin brother and sister he never knew about.
Determined to find his brother, Joji travels to Japan, only to learn that he has been killed. As Joji stays with his sister and digs deeper into the why of the event.
He learns of his uncle’s involvement in criminal activities, including plans to obtain a priceless 130-carat diamond known as the Queen of Sheba.
Betrayal and vengeance unfold as Joji confronts his corrupt uncle and fights to avenge his family.
The cast includes Hiroyuki Sanada and Sonny Chiba.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Japanese 2.0 LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track by film historian Brian Bankston, a featurette about Chiba by Japanese film critic Akihiko Ito, a retrospective on the movie by critic James Mudge, a featurette on cast member Abdullah the Butcher by wrestling critic-film writer Chris Lines and a look at the movie’s mixture of comedy and action by critic Clément Rauger.
The Behemoth (DVD)
Details: 2025, Cleopatra Entertainment
Rated: Unrated
The lowdown: A supernatural horror-thriller centering on a young couple vacationing in a snow-covered mountain village that is quickly transformed into a nightmare.
It seems a secretive religious cult has targeted the couple as sacrifices in a ritual that will release something monstrous upon the world.
At first, the movie offers some eerie restraint before transforming into a blood-soaked and unhinged frenzy.
Fans of “The Wicker Man” and “Evil Dead” should appreciate the 90-minute movie, produced, co-written and directed by Kai Bogatzki.
Technical aspects: 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Sweet Meats (Blu-ray)
Details: 2024, Troma Films
Rated: Unrated
The lowdown: Country music legend Bobby Sweet has the famous face of “Sweet Meats” restaurant since establishing it with his wife.
The food is delicious and draws people from miles around.
Being that this is a Troma picture, I know you can guess what his meats’ “secret ingredient” is made from. But don’t let that deter you.
Like all Troma features, the movie is a stew of comedy and some horrific sequences.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, widescreen picture; English audio.
Don’t miss: A commentary track, a making of featurette, a behind-the-scenes on writing the movie’s music and cast and crew interviews comprise the bonus components.
Other titles being released in the upcoming week include:
Guyver: Dark Hero (Blu-ray) (Toy Robot Video-MVD Visual Entertainment)
The Militia (DVD & digital & VOD) (Freestyle Digital Media)
Ricco the Mean Machine (Blu-ray) (Cauldron Films)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Brivido Giallo Vol. 1 — Graveyard Disturbance & Until Death (Blu-ray) (Cauldron Films)
Bonneville (Kino Film Collection)
The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (Hulu)
Maddie’s Secret (Magnolia Pictures)
Moana (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
One Night Only (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
Portal to Hell (Cineverse)
Re-Creation (Kino Film Collection)
Remake (Music Box Films)
Sherman’s March (Music Box Films)
Tell Them You Love Me (Kino Film Collection)
Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool (Netflix)
SEPT. 9
Drawn Together (Prime Video)
Last Seen: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV)
The Paper: Season 2, Episodes 1-10 (Peacock)
Ted Lasso: Season 4, Episode 6 (Apple TV)
Why Did I Get Married Again (Netflix)
SEPT. 10
Call My Agent! The Movie (Netflix)
Colin From Accounts: Season 3 (Paramount+)
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 5, Episodes 1-5 (Hulu)
SEPT. 11
Dark Matter: Season 2, Episode 3 (Apple TV)
Great Absence (Film Movement+)
Gregory’s Girl (Film Movement+)
Knightfall (Saban Films)
SEPT. 14
The Stranger (Trinity Content Partners)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs at 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, on Facebook at ReelBob.com 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.