With Tuesday falling on Independence Day, the week of July 3rd is a light one. Paramount Home Media Distribution will release Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998), starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone and Holland Taylor.
Description: He doesn't know it, but everything in Truman Burbank's (Jim Carrey) life is part of a massive TV set. Executive producer Christof (Ed Harris) orchestrates "The Truman Show," a live broadcast of Truman's every move captured by hidden cameras. Cristof tries to control Truman's mind, even removing his true love, Sylvia (Natascha McElhone), from the show and replacing her with Meryl (Laura Linney). As Truman gradually discovers the truth, however, he must decide whether to act on it.
Paramount's 4K UHD disc of The Truman Show is sourced from a new 4K master approved by Peter Weir and contains Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. An included legacy Blu-ray copy features extras such a a making of, featurettes, deleted scenes, trailers and TV spots. For a full disc breakdown, read Martin Liebman's 4K UHD review.
Coming to 4K UHD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is Jeannot Szwarc's Jaws 2 (1978), starring Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascolo, Jeffrey Kramer and Collin Wilcox Paxton.
Description: The horror is far from over as Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton reprise their iconic roles in Jaws 2. Four years after the great white shark terrorized the small resort of Amity, unsuspecting vacationers begin disappearing in an all-too-familiar fashion. Police Chief Brody (Scheider) finds himself in a race against time when a new shark attacks ten sailboats manned by teenagers, including his own two sons. The same heart-stopping suspense and gripping adventure that enthralled movie audiences throughout the world in Jaws returns in this worthy sequel to the original motion picture classic.
Universal's 4K UHD disc of Jaws 2 is sourced from a new 4K master and contains HDR and DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio. Extras include deleted scenes, a making of, featurettes, storyboards and trailers. A Blu-ray copy of the film is also included. In addition to standard packaging, a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook will also be available.
New on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks is the anime film set Re:cycle of the Penguindrum: Movie Collection (劇場版『RE:cycle of the PENGUINDRUM』), starring Marie Miyake, Miho Arakawa, Ryohei Kimura, Subaru Kimura, Aki Toyosaki and Akira Ishida.
Description: What would you do to save someone you love? All brothers Shoma and Kanba know is that, after collapsing in an aquarium and apparently dying, their terminally ill sister Himari was somehow revived by a Penguin hat that she had wished for. Now they're on an impossible mission, because the price of keeping Himari alive is to find a mysterious object called the Penguindrum, and they'll do anything to save their sister. Anything. As they travel separate paths in their search, they'll have to unravel complex riddles, make alliances with strangers they know they shouldn't trust, and question the very fabrics of time and destiny. In two spectacular feature films combining elements from the acclaimed TV series plus dazzling new scenes and characters, the Penguinture begins again in RE: CYCLE OF THE PENGUINDRUM, PTS. 1 & 2!
Extras for Sentai's Blu-ray of Re:cycle of the Penguindrum: Movie Collection include clean opening and closing animations and three Japanese promos.
Also from Sentai is a Blu-ray for Yoshiki Kawasaki's anime series The Executioner and Her Way of Life: Complete Collection (処刑少女の生きる道), starring Iori Saeki, Kahara Moe, Hisako Kanemoto, Mao Ichimichi, Yûko Kaida and Tamie Kubota.
Description: When interdimensional travelers from an otherworldly land known as "Japan" appear, death and destruction always follow. It's up to Executioners like Menou to exterminate the Lost Ones before they wreak havoc. When Menou encounters a Lost One named Akari, it's bloody business as usual… until Menou discovers Akari can cheat death. Even so, Menou has a job to do, and she is committed to her executioner's mission come hell or high water - provided her newly stirring feelings don't get in the way.
Extras for Sentai's Blu-ray of The Executioner and Her Way of Life: Complete Collection include clean opening and closing animations. For a full release breakdown, read Neil Lumbard's Blu-ray review.
Description: Welcome to the charming and colorful world of Tintin! Hergé's classic comic book characters leap to the silver screen in two spirited adventures starring the intrepid boy-reporter and his faithful dog Snowy. In Tintin's first-ever live-action adaptation, Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece, Captain Haddock sets sail to Istanbul, accompanied by our cow-licked hero and his cohorts. There they collect a strange bounty from the late Captain Paparanic: a rusty old ship called the Golden Fleece. But the real treasure lies in a chest under the sea, as they discover a map with an "X" on it—marking the spot of Paparanic's gold. For his next escapade, Tintin and the Blue Oranges, Tintin tries to crack the riddle of an oddly hued citrus that can be grown in the desert—and possibly solve world hunger.
Kino's Blu-ray of Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece / Tintin and the Blue Oranges is presented with original French: DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio and optional English subtitles.
Coming to Blu-ray from Raro Video is Pietro Francisci's Star Pilot (2+5: Missione Hydra) (1966), starring Leonora Ruffo, Mario Novelli, Roland Lesaffre and Kirk Morris.
Description: A kitschy sci-fi extravaganza recently restored in 4K, Star Pilot (2+5 Missione Hydra, 1966) is a wildly colorful adventure through the vastness of space. Aliens from the constellation Hydra crash-land on the island of Sardinia. A prominent scientist, his daughter, several young technicians, and a pair of spies are taken hostage by the beings so they can use them to repair their spaceship's broken engine. With that done, they take off towards their home planet, taking the Earthlings with them. However, the humans attempt to mutiny against their captors, inadvertently sending their tiny spaceship hurtling into the infinite beyond.
Raro's Blu-ray of Star Pilot is sourced from a new 4K master and presented with Italian: DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio and optional English subtitles for its original 91-minute version. Extras include an alternate 86-minute English-language cut of the film and an audio commentary by author and film historian David Del Valle.
New on Blu-ray from Arrow Video is Lewis Teague's Fighting Back (1982), starring Tom Skerritt, Patti LuPone, Michael Sarrazin, Yaphet Kotto, David Rasche and Gina DeAngeles.
Description: The streets of Philadelphia are unsafe, but John D'Angelo has a solution. Thieves, pimps, and pushers beware: he's declaring a personal war on crime. From the director of Alligator and the producer of Death Wish comes Fighting Back!
Tom Skerritt (M*A*S*H, Alien) stars as John D'Angelo, a proud husband and father fed up with the crime and fear his family endures everyday. When his wife, Lisa (Patti LuPone) and elderly mother are both victims of violent attacks, he organizes a team of locals to operate as a neighborhood patrol group. But when the patrol resorts to vigilante tactics, the lines between protection and personal vendetta become blurred, resulting in violence and corruption.
Directed by Lewis Teague from a script by Thomas Hedley Jr. (Flashdance) and David Z. Goodman (Straw Dogs), featuring a supporting cast that includes Michael Sarrazin (Frankenstein: The True Story) and Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die) and with a score by celebrated Italian composer Piero Piccioni (Christ Stopped at Eboli), Fighting Back (released overseas as Death Vengeance) finally makes its blistering Blu-ray debut!
Arrow's Blu-ray of Fighting Back is sourced from an HD master supplied by Paramount Pictures and presented with LPCM 2.0 Mono audio. Extras include new interviews with Lewis Teague and camera operator Daniele Nannuzzi, a theatrical trailer, TV spot and image gallery. Limited edition packaging includes a reversible cover jacket, slipcover, fold-out poster and a collector's booklet. For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Finally this week, Shout Factory offers a 4K UHD upgrade for Leigh Whannell's Upgrade (2018), starring Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Melanie Vallejo, Benedict Hardie and Linda Cropper.
Description: After his wife is killed during a brutal mugging that also leaves him paralyzed, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Prometheus) is approached by a billionaire inventor with an experimental cure that will "upgrade" his body. The cure – an artificial intelligence implant called STEM – gives Grey physical abilities far beyond anything he's ever experienced ... and the capacity to relentlessly claim vengeance against those who murdered his wife and left him for dead. Upgrade is a thrilling and hyper-violent vision of the future from the producer of M3GAN and Get Out, and the co-creator of Saw and Insidious.
Shout's 4K UHD release of Upgrade is sourced from a new 4K master and presented with DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks, with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include filmmaker commentary, interviews with Leigh Whannell, producer Kylie Du Fresne, cinematographer Stefan Duscio, editor Andy Canny and fight choreographer Chris Weir and the film's theatrical trailer.