Posted January 15, 2023 09:14 PM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of January 16th, Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Searchlight Pictures will release Mark Mylod's The Menu (2022), starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau and Janet McTeer.
Official description: A young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. The dark comedy is written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy, and directed by Mark Mylod.
Disney's Blu-ray of The Menu contains a making of featurette and three deleted scenes. Reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman gave the disc a 5 star rating for picture quality, saying "a really nicely detailed presentation that probably understandably offers a lot of so-called "food porn" shots that typically features excellent fine detail levels". For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey's Blu-ray review.
New this week from IFC Films is a Blu-ray for Jeff Baena's Spin Me Round, starring Alison Brie, Alessandro Nivola, Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker and Tricia Helfer.
Description: When the manager of an American chain restaurant is selected to attend a special training program in Italy, her head swims with dreams of European glamour and romance.
New this week on Blu-ray from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is Chinonye Chukwu's Till, starring Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Jamie Renell, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Patrick Thomas and John Douglas Thompson.
Description: Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie's poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother's ability to change the world.
Universal's Blu-ray of Till contains a DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track.
New this week from Well Go USA is a Blu-ray for Cornelio Sunny's Death Knot, starring Cornelio Sunny, Widika Sidmore, Morgan Oey, Landung Simatupang and Rukman Rosadi.
Label description: After the sudden suicide of their estranged mother, two siblings return to their hometown and are immediately confronted by angry villagers. Convinced that the woman was a devotee of a dangerous brand of black magic deemed responsible for a string of mysterious deaths over many years, the locals demand that the siblings leave and allow for the burning of their childhood home in order to rid the town of the curse. While initially skeptical, a string of strange occurrences leads the siblings to believe there may be more truth to the rumors than they ever dreamed possible.
Well Go USA's Blu-ray of Death Knot contains the film's trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Finally for new releases, Lightyear Entertainment will release a Blu-ray of Voodoo Macbeth, starring Inger Tudor, Donnell Jewell Williams, June Schreiner, Jeremy Tardy, Daniel Kuhlman and Wrekless Watson.
Description: Based on the true story of young Orson Welles – 20-years-old and just starting out -- and Broadway star Rose McClendon managing a group of committed artists as they set out to create a landmark event in theater history, VOODOO MACBETH unspools the incredible tale of the Negro Theatre Unit's revolutionary 1936 production of "Macbeth".
Lightyear Entertainment's Blu-ray of Voodoo Macbeth contains cast and crew audio commentary, as well as an excerpt from the original play recorded in 1936. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Turning to catalog titles, Paramount Home Media Distribution has a 4K UHD combo pack for the Blu-ray premiere of Bruce Beresford's Double Jeopardy (1999), starring Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish and Roma Maffia. Part of the Paramount Presents series, Double Jeopardy is sourced from a new 4K master with Dolby Vision HDR that has been approved by Bruce Beresford, and features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. Extras include a new Filmmaker Focus featurette with Bruce Beresford, as well as an alternate ending, making of featurette and the film's original theatrical trailer. As with other Paramount Presents releases, collectible packaging includes a slipcover that opens up to reveal original poster artwork.
Coming this week from Shout Factory is a 4K UHD upgrade for Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man (2021), starring Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett and Laz Alonso. Shout's release features the film's Dolby Atmos audio (along with DTS-HD MA 5.1) as well as HDR on the 4K UHD disc.
Also this week, Radiance Films releases their first title, a Blu-ray for Kôsaku Yamashita's Big Time Gambling Boss (博奕打ち 総長賭博) (1968), starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, Koji Tsuruta, Hiroshi Nawa, Nobuo Kaneko and Harumi Sone. Sourced from an HD master provided by Toei, Radiance presents Big Time Gambling Boss with original Japanese: LPCM Mono audio and optional English subtitles. Extras include two video essays, a gallery of promotional images, a trailer for the film, and a limited edition booklet with new writing by author Stuart Galbraith IV, and critic Hayley Scanlon. Collectible packaging includes a reversible jacket with original artwork and a limited edition Obi strip. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
New this week from Arrow Video is Angela Mao in Lady Whirlwind & Hapkido, a two-disc Blu-ray box set that contains two Huang Feng films starring Angela Mao: Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido (both 1972). Both films are presented from new 2K masters and feature original Mandarin and English audio options. Extras include no less than five audio commentaries across both films, new interviews with Angela Mao, archive interviews and featurettes, trailers and more. Full disc breakdowns can be accessed via the film titles above or via reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman's overall Angela Mao in Lady Whirlwind & Hapkido Blu-ray review.
Finally this week, the Criterion Collection have a Blu-ray box set for Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy (1984-1991), which features a new 4K master for The Element of Crime (1984) and new 3K masters for Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991). Extras include multiple audio commentaries across all three films with von Trier and others, two interviews with von Trier from 1991 and 2005, Stig Björkman's documentary Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier (1997), making of featurettes, two short films by von Trier and much more.