Posted February 12, 2024 12:53 AM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of February 12th, Walt Disney Home Entertainment will release Nia DaCosta's The Marvels, starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton and Gary Lewis.
Description: Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole, her powers are entangled with super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol's estranged niece, astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and work together to save the universe.
Disney's 4K UHD release of The Marvels contains the film's Dolby Atmos audio, with HDR. Extras include filmmaker commentary, while an included Blu-ray disc also features two featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel. In addition to standard packaging, a Walmart Exclusive SteelBook will also be available. For full disc breakdowns, read Jeffrey Kauffman's 4K UHD review and Blu-ray review.
New this week from BBC is a 4K UHD / Blu-ray combo pack release for the documentary series Planet Earth III (2023), narrated by David Attenborough.
Description: Completing the Planet Earth trilogy, Planet Earth III explores the greatest habitats on our planet and the extraordinary animals that live in them. Filled with wonder and insight, Planet Earth III celebrates places and animals beyond our imagination. From the depths of the ocean to the most remote jungle, discover the planet's last great wild places and the astonishing strategies animals have evolved to survive. Each episode focuses on a distinct and dazzling habitat, including grasslands and deserts, forests, freshwater habitats, and coasts. This contemporary chapter of Planet Earth also reveals the new challenges that wildlife faces in our modern and crowded world.
BBC's 4K UHD combo pack release of Planet Earth III contains DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Dolby Atmos audio tracks, with HDR on the 4K UHD discs. Extras include Making of Planet Earth III.
New on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is Francis Lawrence's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, starring Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis.
Description: 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus as he unites with Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games, and battles his instincts for both good and evil.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray releases of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes contain the film's Dolby Atmos audio, with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include filmmaker commentary, the eight-part feature-length documentary Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the song "The Hanging Tree" by Rachel Zegler, and theatrical trailers (4K UHD only). In addition to standard packaging, a Walmart Exclusive SteelBook will also be available. For full disc breakdowns, read Jeffrey Kauffman's 4K UHD review and Blu-ray review.
Also from Lionsgate is a Blu-ray for Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, starring Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ari Cohen, Tim Post and Lynne Griffin.
Description: When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla's eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray of Priscilla contains the featurettes Brushed with Beauty: Creating Priscilla's Story and The Making of Priscilla: A Film by Liv McNeil, as well as a theatrical trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Then from Lionsgate is a Blu-ray for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season One (2023), starring Norman Reedus, Clémence Poésy, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, Laďka Blanc-Francard, Anne Charrier and Romain Levi.
Description: In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, "Daryl washes ashore in France and struggles to piece together how he got there and why. The series tracks his journey across a broken but resilient France as he hopes to find a way back home. As he makes the journey, though, the connections he forms along the way complicate his ultimate plan."
Lionsgate's Blu-ray of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - Season One is a two-disc set with all six episodes. Extras include cast diaries and the mini-documentary Show Me More: Daryl Dixon. For a full disc breakdown, read Randy Miller's Blu-ray review.
New on Blu-ray from Relativity Media is Robert Rodriguez's Hypnotic (2023), starring Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, JD Pardo, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey and Jackie Earle Haley.
Description: Determined to find his missing daughter, Austin detective Danny Rourke (Ben Affleck) instead finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole while investigating a series of reality-bending bank robberies where he will ultimately call into question his most basic assumptions about everything and everyone in his world. Aided by Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), an unnervingly gifted psychic, Rourke simultaneously pursues and is pursued by a lethal specter (William Fichtner) - the one man he believes holds the key to finding the missing girl - only to discover more than he ever bargained for.
New on Blu-ray from Well Go USA is Damien LeVeck's A Creature Was Stirring, starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Annalise Basso, Chrissy Metz, Connor Paolo and George Schichtle.
Description: Faith (Chrissy Metz) keeps her troubled teenage daughter (Annalise Basso) on a tightly controlled regimen of experimental drugs, their only means of fending off a mysterious, terrifying affliction. But after two burglars (Scout Taylor-Compton, Connor Paolo) attempt to rob the home on Christmas, they stumble upon a long-kept family secret—with monstrous consequences.
Well Go USA's Blu-ray of A Creature Was Stirring contains a trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Description: Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.
Turning to catalog titles, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the box set
Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 4 (1940-2002), a fourteen-disc box set with the 4K UHD premieres of His Girl Friday (1940), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Starman (1984), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). All six films have been mastered from 4K scans of their original camera negatives, and include Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs. All titles contain original 5.1, Stereo or Mono DTS-HD MA audio, while five of the six (except His Girl Friday) also include Dolby Atmos remixes. All six films also come with a Blu-ray.
New extras for the set include two featurettes on the Blu-ray for His Girl Friday: Screwball Style: The Iconic Costumes of Robert Kalloch and Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Dialogue of His Girl Friday, in addition to legacy audio commentary, several legacy featurettes, vintage advertising and trailers. On 4K UHD, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner contains a legacy audio commentary, as well as a theatrical teaser, while the included Blu-ray additionally contains introductions, featurettes, a photo gallery and a trailer. For Kramer vs. Kramer, the 4K UHD disc contains a new audio commentary by film professor Jennine Lanouette, plus five never-before-seen deleted scenes. Additional extras on 4K UHD include four featurettes and a theatrical trailer, while the included Blu-ray contains a making of featurette. The Blu-ray for Starman contains never-before-seen deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes time lapses, in addition to legacy extras like audio commentary, featurettes, a music video, still gallery and theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray for Sleepless in Seattle contains a new 30th anniversary critic commentary with Karen Han & David Sims and a new conversation with Gary Foster and Meg Ryan, while also including legacy audio commentary, four deleted scenes, a featurette, a music video and a theatrical trailer. Punch-Drunk Love contains legacy extras on Blu-ray, including deleted scenes, featurettes and trailers. Finally, the set includes all 22-episodes of Starman: The Series (1986-1987), presented in HD on 4K UHD discs. The set is rounded out by a "hardbound 80-page book, featuring in-depth sections about the making of each film within the set via six all-new incisive essays from renowned writers and journalists, plus rare photos from deep within the Columbia Pictures archives".
Coming from Paramount Home Media Distribution and CBS is a Blu-ray box set for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: The Complete Series (1964-1969), starring Jim Nabors, Frank Sutton, Ronnie Schell, Roy Stuart, Forrest Compton and Barbara Stuart.
Description: Gomer Pyle, a naive country boy, leaves his home in Mayberry, NC to join the U.S. Marine corps. His perpetual wide-eyed innocence frequently gets on the nerves of his tough, loudmouthed sergeant in this successful spin-off from The Andy Griffith Show.
Paramount's release of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: The Complete Series is a 20-disc set, which contains all five seasons of the series. Extras include audio commentaries on select episodes, the pilot episode, and a vintage sales presentation clip.
Also coming from Paramount is a 4K UHD upgrade for Herbert Ross's Footloose (1984), starring Kevin Bacon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Penn, John Lithgow, Lori Singer and Dianne Wiest. Sourced from a new 4K master, Paramount presents Footloose with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR. An included legacy Blu-ray disc features two audio commentaries: One with producer Craig Zadan and writer Dean Pitchford and another with actor Kevin Bacon. Also included are cast interviews, featurettes, Bacon's screen test and costume montage and a theatrical trailer. In addition to standard packaging, a SteelBook will also be available. For a full release breakdown, read Martin Liebman's 4K UHD review.
Coming to Blu-ray from Arrow Video is Michael Tuchner's Fear Is the Key (1972), starring Barry Newman, Suzy Kendall, John Vernon, Dolph Sweet, Ben Kingsley and Ray McAnally. Sourced from an HD master, Arrow presents Fear Is the Key with LPCM Mono audio. Extras include a new audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger, A Different Kind of Spy Game: A new visual essay by film critic and author Scout Tafoya, Fear in the Key of Budd, a new appreciation of composer Roy Budd by film and music historian Neil Brand, the archive featurette Bayou to Bray and an archive interview with associate producer Gavrik Losey, as well as a theatrical trailer. Packaging includes reversible artwork, a double-sided fold-out poster and an "illustrated collector's booklet with new writing by filmmaker and critic Sean Hogan". For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Also on Blu-ray from Arrow is Feng Huang's The Shaolin Plot (四大門派) (1977), starring Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Sing Chen, Ho Wang, James Tien, Shan Kwan and Hsieh Wang. Sourced from a new 2K master, Arrow presents The Shaolin Plot with DTS-HD MA Mono audio in Mandarin (with optional English subtitles) or dubbed English. Extras include two audio commentaries: One by martial arts film experts Frank Djeng and Michael Worth and another by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Alternate English credits and original theatrical trailers round out the disc. Packaging includes reversible artwork, a double-sided fold-out poster and an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Peter Glagowski".
Coming to Blu-ray from Radiance Films is Damiano Damiani's Goodbye & Amen (L'uomo della CIA) (1977), starring Tony Musante, Claudia Cardinale, John Forsythe, John Steiner, Renzo Palmer and Angela Goodwin. Sourced from a new 2K master, Radiance presents Goodbye & Amen in both its Italian and English versions (the latter for the first time on home video), with DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio and optional newly translated English or English SDH subtitles. Extras include a 2023 audio commentary by Eurocrime experts Nathaniel Thompson and Howard Berger and interviews with with editor Antonio Siciliano and actor Wolfango Soldati. Packaging includes reversible artwork and a "limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian crime cinema expert Lucia Rinaldi". For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Coming to Blu-ray from Arbelos Films is György Fehér's Twilight (Szürkület) (1990), starring Péter Haumann, János Derzsi, Gyula Pauer, Judit Pogány, László Németh and Miklós Székely B. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative by the National Film Institute – Hungarian Film Archive and FilmLab (supervised by cinematographer Miklós Gurbán), Arbelos presents Twilight with newly-translated optional English subtitles. Extras include new video interviews with Miklós Gurbán and editor Mária Czeilik, Fehér's short films Öregek (1969) and Tomikám (1970) and a US theatrical trailer. Packaging includes a limited edition (of 1000) slipcase, collectible "giant" drawing (as seen in the film), and a "12-page booklet with new essay by Andrea Virginás".
Coming this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment are 4K UHD upgrades for Kasi Lemmons' Harriet (2019), starring Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, Clarke Peters, Vanessa Bell Calloway and Omar J. Dorsey, and Ol Parker's Ticket to Paradise (2022), starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier and Lucas Bravo. Both films will be presented on 4K UHD with HDR and their Dolby Atmos audio tracks. Both releases also include Blu-ray discs.
Finally this week, Shout Factory has two catalog titles to offer. First up is a Blu-ray for Liam Lynch's Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006), starring Jack Black, Kyle Gass, JR Reed, Troy Gentile, Ronnie James Dio and Paul F. Tompkins. Sourced from a new 2K master, Shout presents Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio. Extras include two audio commentaries: One by Jack Black and Kyle Gass and another by Liam Lynch.A making of, over 50 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes, featurettes and trailers are also included. For a full disc breakdown, read Brian Orndorf's Blu-ray review.
Amd also from Shout is a 4K UHD upgrade for Kevin Lewis' Willy's Wonderland (2021), starring Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, Grant Cramer, Terayle Hill and Chris Warner. Shout presents Willy's Wonderland with Dolby Vision HDR,while an included Blu-ray disc contains four featurettes, a trailer and image galleries. In addition to standard packaging, a Limited Edition SteelBook will also be available.