For the week of August 29th, Paramount Home Media Distribution has a Blu-ray release for Paramount Home Media Distribution will release on Blu-ray Taylor Sheridan's limited series 1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story (2021), starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May, and LaMonica Garrett.
Studio description: From visionary creator Taylor Sheridan comes a prequel to television's #1 show, Yellowstone. 1883 follows the original Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It's a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America's promised land — Montana.
Paramount's Blu-ray for 1883 is a three-disc set with all ten episodes and over two hours of behind-the-scenes extras.
New this week from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray of Craig Roberts' The Phantom of the Open, starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans, and Mark Lewis Jones.
Studio description: The Phantom of the Open follows Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a dreamer and unrelenting optimist who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship Qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process.
Sony's Blu-ray of The Phantom of the Open contains the featurette Finding Flitcroft and trailers.
New from RLJE Films is a two-disc Blu-ray for 61st Street: Season 1 (2022), starring Courtney B. Vance and Aunjanue Ellis.
Official description: 61st Street follows Moses Johnson, a promising Black high school athlete who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system, and Franklin Roberts, the public defender who takes up his case. While Roberts has promised his wife he'll retire, he takes on this case because he recognizes its potential to upend the entire Chicago judicial system, challenging the institutional racism and endemic corruption at its heart.
New this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray for Jim Archer's Brian and Charles, starring David Earl, Chris Hayward, and Louise Brealey.
Studio description: Brian and Charles follows Brian, a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he's invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.
Also coming from Universal this week is a Blu-ray for Betsy West and Julie Cohen's documentary Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down.
Description: Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down tells the extraordinary story of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, her relentless fight to recover following an assassination attempt in 2011, and her new life as one of the most effective champions in the battle against gun violence. Featuring extensive footage of Gabby and her husband, astronaut-turned-Senator Mark Kelly; interviews with Barack Obama and other friends and colleagues; and exclusive access to stunning videos taken in the weeks following her near-death.
Universal's Blu-ray of Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down also contains an introduction by Senator Mark Kelly and a Q&A with Gabby Giffords and directors Betty West and Julie Cohen, moderated by Nina Totenberg.
New this week from Kino Lorber is a Blu-ray for Bradley Jackson's documentary Facing Nolan.
Description: In the world of Major League Baseball no one has created a mythology like Nolan Ryan. Told from the point of view of the hitters who faced him and the teammates who revered him, Facing Nolan is the definitive documentary of a Texas legend.
Kino's Blu-ray of Facing Nolan contains a Q&A session with Nolan Ryan, Tom House and Pitching Ninja, a SXSW Festival Q&A, archival clips and a trailer as extras.
Also from Kino this week is a Blu-ray for Elie Grappe's Olga, starring Anastasia Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova and Caterina Barloggio.
Description: A talented young gymnast from Kyiv, played by real-life former Ukrainian national team member Anastasiia Budiashkina, moves to Switzerland to pursue her Olympic dreams in Elie Grappe's award-winning drama. Set in 2014, the film follows 15-year-old Olga as she tries to make friends on her new team and adjust to life in her new home. As she relentlessly trains in preparation for the European Championships, her friends and family back in the Ukraine are taking to the streets in what would become known as the Maidan Revolution. Olga is left a powerless, distant bystander as her mother, an investigative journalist, faces danger and violence in her work challenging the brutal Yanukovich regime. The historic events depicted in the film are intricately linked with the subsequent Russian invasion, providing rich insight into the current situation in the Ukraine, yet Grappe's camera never strays from the point of view of a remarkable young woman struggling to find her way in the world. Can Olga reconcile her personal goals as a gymnast with the living history unfolding in her homeland? This tense yet delicate portrait of exile, ambition, and identity won the SACD Prize at Cannes Critics Week and features a star-making turn from its fearless lead.
Kino's Blu-ray of Olga contains the film's trailer as an extra.
Turning to catalog titles, Kino has a Blu-ray for Curtis Harrington's Mata Hari (1985), starring Sylvia Kristel, Christopher Cazenove, and Oliver Tobias. Kino's Blu-ray contains a new audio commentary with film historians David Del Valle and Nathaniel Bell, as well as an image gallery and a thetarical trailer. Collectible packaging includes a limited edition slipcover.
Then from Kino is a Blu-ray for Michie Gleason's Summer Heat (1987), starring Lori Singer, Anthony Edwards, Bruce Abbott, Kathy Bates, and Clu Gulager. Kino's Blu-ray contains a radio spot and the film's theatrical trailer.
Finally from Kino is a Blu-ray for Jack Gold's The Tenth Man (1988), starring Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, Brenda Bruce and Timothy Watson. Kino's Blu-ray contains the 1.78:1 and 1.33:1 versions of the film, as well as trailers.
New this week from Shout Factory is a Blu-ray for The Bionic Woman: The Complete Series (1976-1978). The 18-disc set contains all three seasons of the series Extras include new and archival audio commentaries, a new interview with Bryan Cranston, featurettes, gag reels, still galleries and other archival extras, while a bonus disc includes two reunion TV films and additional archival extras.
Also coming this week from Shout is a 4K UHD upgrade for Paul Schrader's Cat People (1982), starring Nastassja Kinski, John Heard, Malcolm McDowell, Annette O'Toole, and Ruby Dee. Newly remastered from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, Shout's release is a two-disc set with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. An archival audio commentary with Scrader is on both discs, while on the remastered Blu-ray, Shout has included all of the cast and crew interviews from their 2014 Blu-ray, as well as older archival extras.
Finally from Shout and GKIDS is a 4K UHD upgrade for Mamoru Hosoda's Belle (2021). Presented with Dolby Vision HDR and both Japanese and English Dolby Atmos audio, the 4K UHD edition comes in collector's edition packaging and features cast interviews, promo events with Hosoda and cast, behind the Japanese dub, while collectibles include a 60-page book, a poster, 6 art cards and stickers.
Coming this week from Severin is a Blu-ray for Michel Caputo's The Female Executioner (L'Exécutrice) (1986), starring Brigitte Lahaie, Michel Modo, Bernard Hug, Richard Allan, and Pierre Oudrey. Remastered in 2K from its original camera negative, Severin presents the film on Blu-ray with a new interview and a location visit with Caputo and Lahaie, as well as the short film The Blue Shutters (Les volets bleus) (1987), which also stars Lahaie.
Please make sure to turn on the optional English subtitles while viewing the trailer below.
Finally this week, Severin Films has a 4K UHD and Blu-ray for Jesús Franco's Faceless (1987), starring Brigitte Lahaie, Helmut Berger, Telly Savalas, Christopher Mitchum, and Florence Guérin. Remastered in 4K from its original camera negative, Severin presents the film on Blu-ray and 4K UHD with new extras, including new interviews with Lahaie, actress Caroline Munro and historians Kim Newman and Stephen Thrower, while archival extras include audio commentary with Franco and actress Lina Romay, EPK interviews with Berger, Mitchum and Savalas and the parody short Therese II: The Mission (1987) (starring Brigitte Lahaie) amongst other extras.