Posted September 27, 2021 01:21 AM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of September 27th, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Everardo Valerio Gout's The Forever Purge, starring Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda, and Will Patton. The fifth main film in the Purge franchise was originally planned for a 2020 release, but was delayed by the pandemic until July 2021 domestically. In spite of mixed reviews, the film has grossed some $77 million worldwide against a budget of $16 million. Universal's releases will contain Dolby Atmos audio, while the 4K UHD disc contains HDR.
Also from Universal this week is a Blu-ray for Edgar Wright's documentary The Sparks Brothers, starring Mike Myers, 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Neil Gaiman, Todd Rundgren, and Giorgio Moroder. Studio description: How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Russell & Ron Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band's favorite band.
Universal's two-disc special edition of The Sparks Brothers will contain an entire 22-song concert live in London, as well as over 2 hours of deleted scenes and additional interviews.
Also new this week, from Shout Factory is Edward Hall's Blithe Spirit (2020), starring Isla Fisher, Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, Judi Dench, and Emilia Fox. Description: Best-selling crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens) suffers from terrible writer's block and is struggling to finish his first screenplay. His picture-perfect new wife Ruth (Isla Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focused so they can fulfill her dream of leaving London for Hollywood. Charles' quest for inspiration leads him to invite the eccentric mystic Madame Acarti (Judi Dench) to perform a séance in his home. He gets more than he bargained for when Madame Acarti inadvertently summons the spirit of his first wife: the brilliant and fiery Elvira (Leslie Mann). Ready to pick up her life right where she left off, Elvira is shocked to discover the prim and proper Ruth is now married to her husband and running her household. Charles finds himself stuck between his two wives and their increasingly over-the-top attempts to outdo one another in this lethally hilarious comedy.
Also from Shout Factory this week is an amaray case release for Nelson Shin's The Transformers: The Movie (1986), featuring the voices of Charlie Adler, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, Lionel Stander, and Victor Caroli. Originally released last month as a SteelBook edition, Shout's amaray release contains the same two discs, with the film in widescreen on the 4K UHD disc and the film in 4:3 open-matte on the Blu-ray. Reviewing the 4K UHD disc, Martin Liebman says in part: "The add to dynamic punch, vividness, contrast, and overall color depth and accuracy are absolutely striking...Clarity and textural gains are in evidence as well, though the yield is nowhere near so dramatic as the Dolby Vision color grading. Viewers will appreciate a more refined and slightly more aggressive grain structure, crisper lines, sharper core elements concerning both moving foreground character models and static background pieces". Read Martin's full review here.
Finally for new releases this week, from Lionsgate Home Entertainment comes Martin Owen's Twist, starring Michael Caine, Rita Ora, Noel Clarke, Sophie Simnett, and Jason Maza. Studio description: Inspired by Charles Dickens's iconic novel Oliver Twist, this action-fueled crime-thriller set in contemporary London follows the journey of Twist (Raff Law), a gifted graffiti artist trying to find his way after the loss of his mother. Lured into a street gang headed by the paternal Fagin (Oscar winner Michael Caine), Twist is attracted to the lifestyle — and to Red (Sophie Simnett), an alluring member of Fagin's crew. But when an art theft goes wrong, Twist's moral code is tested as he's caught between Fagin, the police, and a loose-cannon enforcer (Lena Headey).
Turning to catalog titles, Arrow Video have two this week. First up is a 4K UHD upgrade for Fritz Kiersch's Children of the Corn, starring Linda Hamilton, Peter Horton, R.G. Armstrong, John Franklin, Courtney Gains and Robby Kiger. Previously released on remastered Blu-ray by Arrow in 2017, this new 4K UHD disc is taken from a 4K scan of the original camera negative and presented in Dolby Vision HDR. Additionally, the extras from Arrow's Blu-ray have been ported over, including two audio commentaries, interviews with Linda Hamilton and other cast and crew, and more.
Next for Arrow is a newly remastered Blu-ray for Ridley Scott's Legend (1985), starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten and Billy Barty. This two-disc set features both the US theatrical cut of the film and Ridley Scott's director's cut, alongside a host of new and archival extras, including a new audio commentary on the theatrical cut by Paul M. Sammon author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies, a new featurette A Fairytale in Pinewood, which interviews grip David Cadwalladr, costume designer Charles Knode, co-star Annabelle Lanyon, camera operator Peter MacDonald, set decorator Ann Mollo and draftsman John Ralph, and more. Limited edition packaging includes an illustrated perfect-bound book, a large fold-out poster, cast portraits, six lobby cards and a reversible sleeve. A Zavvi Exclusive Original Artwork edition will also be available.
Finally this week, two more releases are added to the Criterion Collection. First is a Blu-ray box set, Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films. The five-disc collection features four films made by Van Peebles, The Story of a Three Day Pass (1967), Watermelon Man (1970), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Don't Play Us Cheap (1972), as well as Baadasssss!, a 2003 film made by Mario Van Peebles in which he also plays his father during the production of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. As expected, numerous extras, including short films by Melvin Van Peebles, audio commentaries, documentaries and interviews are included.
Last week, Melvin Van Peebles passed away at age 89 and Criterion were among the many who paid tribute to the filmmaker, in part by releasing a statement that can be found here in our forum.
Finally this week, Criterion also have a Blu-ray for Luchino Visconti's The Damned, starring Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Griem, Helmut Berger, Florinda Bolkan and Charlotte Rampling. The film has been newly remastered from a 2K scan by the Cineteca di Bologna and Institut Lumière, and will be presented with LPCM Mono tracks in the original English/German or an Italian dub track with English subtitles. Extras include a new interview with scholar Stefano Albertini about the sexual politics of the film, a 1969 documentary Visconti On Set and archival interviews with Visconti, Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin, and Charlotte Rampling, amongst others.