For the week of January 9th, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season (2022). The four-disc set contains all 16 episodes, along with cast and crew audio commentaries on three episodes.
New this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray for Maria Schrader's She Said (2022), starring Tom Pelphrey, Carey Mulligan, Samantha Morton, Zoe Kazan and Jennifer Ehle.
Studio description: Two-time Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman, An Education) and Emmy nominee Zoe Kazan (The Plot Against America, The Big Sick) star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation— a story that shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and impelled a shift in American culture that continues to this day.
Universal's Blu-ray of She Said contains the featurette Breaking the Story as an extra.
Also coming from Universal this week is a Blu-ray for Good Girls: The Complete Series (2018-2021). The ten-disc box set contains all four seasons of the series on Blu-ray for the first time.
Studio description: When three suburban moms get tired of trying to make ends meet, they decide it's time to stick up for themselves by robbing the local grocery store. From Executive Producer Jenna Bans ("Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal") comes this comedy-infused drama that mixes a little "Thelma & Louise" with a bit of "Breaking Bad". Beth (Christina Hendricks), Ruby (Retta) and Annie (Mae Whitman) are knee-deep in a life of crime and there's no going back! Good Girls: The Complete Series is packed with twists and surprises, the ladies are taking control of their illegal business operations as they struggle to keep it all hidden and evade those desperate to take them down. Expect steamy romances, nail-biting drama and even higher stakes as the Good Girls have fully broken bad.
New this week from IFC Films is a Blu-ray for Bruno Samper and Kristina Buozyte's Vesper, starring Eddie Marsan, Rosy McEwen, Richard Brake and Raffiella Chapman.
Description: After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her Father, must use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the future.
Carlota Pereda's Piggy (Cerdita), starring Laura Galán, Richard Holmes, Carmen Machi, Irene Ferreiro and Camille Aguilar.
Label description: During the sweltering summertime of rural Spain, Sara carries an extra load of teenage agony due to the perpetual bullying from her peers. She's also an outsider at home—her parents and little brother just don't understand her—so, feelings internalized, she's often found buried in her headphones, drowning out her surroundings. One day, Sara's usual solo dip at the local pool is disrupted by the presence of a mysterious stranger in the water and an exceptionally grueling bout of abuse at the hands of three girls. But, in a strange twist of fate, along the way home Sara witnesses her bloodied tormentors being kidnapped in the back of the stranger's van.
New on Blu-ray from Screen Media this week is Russell Crowe's Poker Face, starring Russell Crowe, Elsa Pataky, Liam Hemsworth and RZA.
Label description: A yearly high-stakes poker game between childhood friends turns into chaos when the tech billionaire host (Russell Crowe) unveils an elaborate scheme to seek revenge for the ways they've betrayed him over the years. But as his plans unfold, a group of thieves hatch plans of their own breaking into the mansion thinking it is empty. The old friends quickly band together and the years of playing the game help them win their way through a night of terror.
Coming this week from RLJE Films is a Blu-ray for Scooter Corkle's The Friendship Game, starring Peyton List, Jennifer Copping, Miranda Edwards, Kaitlyn Santa Juana and Dylan Schombing.
Description: A group of teenagers in a small town discover a strange object that tests the strength of their friendship.
Studio description: Trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tanya Tucker defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after Tanya slipped from the spotlight, rising Americana music star Brandi Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya's extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history.
THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER follows Tanya's richly creative, utterly captivating, bumpy ride back to the top as Brandi encourages her to push past her fears to create a new sound and reach a new audience. The writing, the experimenting, and refining of this new music mixes with all that came before – using rare archival footage and photographs to delve into Tanya's history, beginning in a single wide trailer in Seminole, Texas.
Taking stock of the past while remaining vitally alive in the present and keeping an eye on the future, THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER is a rousing exploration of an unexpected friendship built on the joy of a perfectly timed creative collaboration.
Also from Sony this week is a 4K UHD SteelBook for Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day (1993), starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray and Marita Geraghty. Already released on 4K UHD back in 2018, this new SteelBook edition celebrates the film's 30th anniversary with a new Dolby Vision HDR grade, as well as DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 audio tracks in addition to the Dolby Atmos remix found on the previous edition. Also included on the 4K UHD disc is the film's theatrical trailer, while a bundled Blu-ray contains the extras from previous editions.
Staying with catalog titles, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has two more Blu-rays from the Warner Archive Collection this week. First is Harry Beaumont's Our Dancing Daughters (1928), starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Nils Asther, Dorothy Sebastian, Anita Page and Kathlyn Williams.
Description: In the midst of the Jazz Age, two friends wrestle with love and liberation. Diana (Joan Crawford) has a flamboyant personality that masks a sweet nature, while Ann (Anita Page) is outwardly reserved, but coldly manipulative on the inside. When Diana sets her sights on the rich, debonair Ben (Johnny Mack Brown), Ann gets competitive, and successfully steals Ben away from her. It's only after they've married that Ben realizes what a cruel person Ann is, and that his heart really belongs to Diana.
Then from Warner Archive is Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious (1952), starring Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry, William Frawley and Lisa Ferraday.
Description: In his third and final Western Fritz Lang unsaddles the genre to create a tempestuous cult favorite. Critics have likened the film and its theme of a man twisted by vengeance to a Lang film of a wholly different genre: film noir's the Big Heat.
Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) is pushed to revenge when his fiancée is killed during a general store robbery. Intent on punishing those responsible, Vern manages to find one of the thieves, who is mortally wounded. In his dying words, the man gives Vern a clue to finding the others. Continuing his quest, Vern travels to the hideout -- a ranch operated by Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich), a former saloon singer. By fooling an outlaw (Mel Ferrer), Vern makes his way into their inner circle.
Note: A trailer for Rancho Notorious can be viewed at the Warner Archive Collection Facebook page here.
Coming this week from Arrow is a remastered Blu-ray for Daniel Haller's The Dunwich Horror (1970), starring Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe and Joanne Moore Jordan. Previously released on Blu-ray in 2016, Arrow's Blu-ray comes from a new 2K master struck from the original camera negative, and is presented on Blu-ray with LPCM Mono audio. Extras include a new audio commentary by Guy Adams and A.K. Benedict, The Door into Dunwich, a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws, running over two hours, a half-hour featurette on Les Baxter's score for the film, and more. A booklet is limited to the first pressing only and contains new writing on the film by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant, while packaging includes a slipcover and reversible jacket. Reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman calls Arrow's presentation a "beautiful looking transfer...a lot of the film's almost lurid psychedelic moments really pop incredibly well". For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey's Blu-ray review.
Then from Arrow is The Executioner Collection, which contains Teruo Ishii's The Executioner (直撃!地獄拳) and The Executioner II: Karate Inferno (直撃地獄拳 大逆転) (both 1974), starring Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba. Both films are presented from HD masters with Japanese: LPCM Mono audio and optional English subtitles, while The Executioner also has its original English dub track available (in LPCM Mono), with optional English SDH subtitles. Extras include audio commentary on The Executioner, a 30-minute featurette on Sonny Chiba's life and career, image galleries and trailers for both films. A booklet is limited to the first pressing only and contains new writing on the films by Mark Schilling, while packaging includes a slipcover, reversible jacket and a double-sided mini-poster. Full disc breakdowns can be accessed via the film titles above or via reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman's overall The Executioner Collection Blu-ray review.
Finally this week, 88 Films has a Blu-ray and 4K UHD release for Sammo Kam-Bo Hung and Corey Yuen's Dragons Forever (1988), starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Pauline Yeung, Deannie Ip and Wah Yuen. Building on 88 Films' 2019 UK-only Blu-ray release, this new 2022 edition contains three cuts of the film, the Hong Kong cut, the Japanese cut and the English export version, all in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision HDR. The Hong Kong and Japanese cuts have a new Cantonese: Dolby Atmos audio option, in addition to the original mono mixes in Cantonese (English for the export version) and multiple English dub options, all with optional English subtitles (English SDH for the export version). Along with the extras from the previous Blu-ray edition, new extras include audio commentary on the Japanese cut by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto and over 80 minutes of new interviews with the film's stunt coordinator Chin Kar-Lok and writer Szeto Cheuk-Hon. Collectible packaging includes a booklet, reversible jacket and slipcover.