Posted December 18, 2022 08:31 PM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of December 19th, Walt Disney Home Entertainment and 20th Century Studios will release Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, Kerry Condon and Pat Shortt.
Studio description: From director-writer Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Although Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them.
Disney's Blu-ray of The Banshees of Inisherin contains deleted scenes and the featurette Creating The Banshees of Inisherin.
New this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray and 4K UHD release for Todd Field's Tár, starring Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss and Sydney Lemmon.
Official description: Focus Features and Universal Pictures present TÁR. The new motion picture from three-time Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Todd Field, starring two-time Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett. The film, set in the international world of classical music, centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra. The supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Mark Strong, Allan Corduner, and Sylvia Flote.
Universal's releases of Tár contain the film's Dolby Atmos audio, while the 4K UHD disc additionally features HDR.
New this week from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray and 4K UHD release for House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season (2022), starring Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint and Eve Best.
Official description: The reign of House Targaryen begins: House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, is here. Based on George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood," the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.
Warner Bros.' releases of House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season contain the series' Dolby Atmos audio, while the 4K UHD discs also include Dolby Vision HDR. Over an hour of extras include two exclusive featurettes: Return to the Seventh Kingdom and Welcome to Westeros. In addition to standard packaging, a Limited Edition SteelBook will also be available. Reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman gives both formats five stars for picture and sound quality and says the sound "often offer[s] swirling arrays of not just side and rear channel engagement, but fun and immersive Atmos effects", while the Blu-ray picture is "fantastically sharp and well detailed", and the 4K UHD picture is "frequently jaw dropping". For full release breakdowns, read Jeffrey's 4K UHD review, Blu-ray review and Limited Edition SteelBook review.
New this week on Blu-ray from Well Go USA is Martin Owen's The Loneliest Boy in the World, starring Ashley Benson, Ben Miller, Susan Wokoma and Evan Ross.
Description: A modern fairytale—but with zombies. When the sheltered and unsocialized Oliver (Max Harwood) is tasked with making new friends after the sudden and devastating death of his mother, he decides that digging a few up (literally) might be his best bet. However, when he awakens the morning after his excavating escapades, he discovers that his newly acquired friends have mysteriously come to life overnight, launching them all into a series of misadventures as they try to keep their secret safe from neighbors, bullies, and social workers alike.
Well Go USA's Blu-ray of The Loneliest Boy in the World contains a behind the scenes featurette and the film's trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
New this week from Paramount Home Media Distribution is a Blu-ray for Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman's Secret Headquarters, starring Owen Wilson, Michael Peña, Jesse Williams, David Lengel and Jessie Mueller.
Studio description: Friendship and courage take center stage when Charlie and his friends stumble upon the headquarters of the Guard (Owen Wilson) and realize the world's most powerful superhero is Charlie's dad. When an evil businessman (Michael Peña) sends in a team to infiltrate the lair and retrieve the Guard's energy source, the youngsters spring into action and turn the tables on the intruders.
Paramount's Blu-ray of Secret Headquarters contains Dolby Atmos audio. Extras include deleted and extended scenes, a gag reel, and four featurettes: BFFLs, The Secret Headquarters, Panic! At the Moon Dance and Who is the Guard?.
Finally for new releases this week, Lionsgate Home Entertainment has a Blu-ray for Chuck Russell's Paradise City, starring Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Stephen Dorff, Blake Jenner and Kate Katzman.
Official description: Movie icons and Pulp Fiction costars Bruce Willis and John Travolta face off in this action-packed thriller. When bounty hunter Ian Swan (Willis) is shot and presumed dead after disappearing in Maui waters, Swan's son, Ryan (Blake Jenner), his ex-partner (Stephen Dorff), and a local detective (Praya Lundberg) set out to find his killers. After being threatened by a ruthless power broker (Travolta), it appears Ryan and his team are out of options — until an excursion to the closely guarded island community of Paradise City unites them with an unforeseen ally.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray of Paradise City contains audio commentary with Chuck Russell and actor Blake Jenner, The Road to Paradise City: A conversation with Praya Lundberg and Chuck Russell, and My Time in Paradise: Chuck Russell's Adventures in Hollywood.
Description: This four-disc set showcase more than fourteen hours of rarely-seen silent films about feminist protest, slapstick rebellion, and suggestive gender play. These women organize labor strikes, bake (and weaponize) inedible desserts, explode out of chimneys, electrocute the police force, and assume a range of identities that gleefully dismantle traditional gender norms and sexual constraints. The films span a variety of genres including slapstick comedy, genteel farce, the trick film, cowboy melodrama, and adventure thriller. Cinema's First Nasty Women includes 99 European and American silent films, produced from 1898 to 1926, sourced from thirteen international film archives and libraries, with all-new musical scores, video introductions, commentary tracks, and a lavishly illustrated booklet. Curated by Maggie Hennefeld, Laura Horak, and Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, and produced for video by Bret Wood, Cinema's First Nasty Women is a partnership of Kino Lorber, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Women Film Pioneers Project, Eye Filmmuseum, FIC-Silente, and Carleton University.
Extras for Kino's Cinema's First Nasty Women box set include a video introduction, eleven short documentaries focused on specific films and performers, and audio commentaries for select films. Exclusive to the first edition Blu-ray is a 120-page book with essays, interviews, photos, and detailed film notes.
Then from Kino is a three-disc Blu-ray for Maigret: Season 1 (1960-1961), starring Rupert Davies, Ewen Solon, Helen Shingler and Neville Jason.
Description: Long-awaited and unseen anywhere for decades, Maigret (1960-1963) is the definitive adaptation of Georges Simenon's world famous novels. This BBC television production stars Rupert Davies as Commissaire Jules Maigret, the dogged French detective. Though Simenon's books have been adapted many times, Davies's celebrated, BAFTA-winning portrayal won the approval of Simenon himself, who stated: "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!" This three disc-set includes all 13 episodes of Season 1, in which Maigret reckons with a "Murder in Montmarte", "The Burglar's Wife", and various other vexing cases that only the moody Maigret can solve. Maigret has been remastered in High Definition from original film elements and is featured here in its original fullscreen TV format.
Kino's Blu-ray of Maigret: Season 1 features a new remaster by Network Distributing in the UK. Extras include a restoration featurette and limited edition packaging includes a slipcover. Note that Season 2 and Season 3 can also be pre-ordered now for release in January and February, respectively.
The from Kino is a 4K UHD upgrade for Joseph Sargent's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo and Tony Roberts. Presented on 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three features DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono and 5.1 audio tracks, along with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include both a new audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, as well as the extras from Kino's 2016 Blu-ray edition, such as audio commentary with actor/filmmaker Pat Healy and film historian Jim Healy, a vintage making of featurette, 2016 interviews with actor Hector Elizondo, editor Gerald B. Greenberg and composer David Shire, an image and poster gallery, TV and radio spots and the film's trailer.
Finally this week, Shout Factory has a 4K UHD upgrade for WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin and Juanin Clay. Presented on 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, WarGames features DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 audio tracks, along with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras are ported from the previous Blu-ray and feature audio commentary, a making of, three featurettes and the film's theatrical trailer.