For the week of June 17th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and MGM will release Cord Jefferson's American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams and Adam Brody.
Description: American Fiction is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture's obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish "Black" book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
New on Blu-ray from Shout Factory and GKIDS is Jeremie Perin's Mars Express, featuring the voices of Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Njo Lobé, Marie Bouvet, Sébastien Chassagne and Marthe Keller.
Description: In 2200, private detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down a notorious hacker.
On Mars, they descend deep into the underbelly of the planet's capital city where they uncover a darker story of brain farms, corruption, and a missing girl who holds a secret about the robots that threatens to change the face of the universe.
Shout Factory's Blu-ray of Mars Express contains French or dubbed English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio tracks. Extras include Let's Play Classic Games with Director Jérémie Périn, Director Scene Breakdown - Opening Scene and Director Scene Breakdown - Sequence 78.
Also coming from Shout is a 4K UHD upgrade for Irvin Kershner's RoboCop 2 (1990), starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Shout presents RoboCop 2 with two DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo (both new and from the Laserdisc) and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras replicate Shout's 2017 Blu-ray and include two audio commentaries, a making of documentary, a featurette on the special effects, interviews with RoboCop armor fabricator James Belohovek and comic book writer Steven Grant, and more.
Finally from Shout is a 4K UHD upgrade for José Padilha's RoboCop (2014), starring Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley and Jay Baruchel. Sourced from a new 4K master, Shout presents RoboCop with DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 audio options and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include the documentary RoboCop: Engineered for the 21st Century, deleted scenes, an Omnicorp product commercial and trailers.
New on Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group is Uberto Pasolini's Nowhere Special, starring James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O'Higgins, Valerie O'Connor, Valene Kane and Keith McErlean.
Description: James Norton (Bob Marley: One Love, Happy Valley, Little Women), stars as John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, who has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation. As John struggles to find the right answer to his impossible task, he comes to accept the help of a young social worker, opening himself to solutions he would never have considered. And he finally comes to accept his anger at the injustice of his destiny, the need to share the truth with his son, and to follow the child's instincts on the biggest decision of their lives.
Cohen's Blu-ray of Nowhere Special includes an interview with Uberto Pasolini, James Norton and Daniel Lamont by Anna Smith, a making of featurette and a theatrical trailer.
Turning to catalog titles, Powerhouse Films have three new limited edition Blu-rays for their Indicator line. They are:
George King's Tomorrow We Live (1942), starring John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Sinclair, Greta Gynt, Judy Kelly and Yvonne Arnaud. Sourced from a new 4K master by Powerhouse Films, Indicator presents Tomorrow We Live with original mono audio. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historians Josephine Botting and Robert Murphy, a new interview with film historian Pamela Hutchinson on Greta Gynt, a 2005 interview with composer Roy Douglas and an image gallery. A Limited Edition-exclusive booklet includes "a new essay by Philip Kemp, archival interviews and articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits".
George King's The Shop at Sly Corner (1947), starring Oskar Homolka, Derek Farr, Muriel Pavlow, Kathleen Harrison, Garry Marsh and Kenneth Griffith. Sourced from a new 4K master by Powerhouse Films, Indicator presents The Shop at Sly Corner with original mono audio. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historian Josephine Botting and critic Phuong Le, a new interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby on Oscar Homolka, a 2009 interview with Muriel Pavlow and an image gallery. A Limited Edition-exclusive booklet includes "a new essay by Steve Chibnall, archival interviews and articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits".
Edward Dmytryk's Obsession (1949), starring Robert Newton, Sally Gray, Naunton Wayne, Phil Brown, Ronald Adam and Michael Balfour. Sourced from a new 4K master by Powerhouse Films, Indicator presents Obsession with original mono audio. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historians Thirza Wakefield and Melanie Williams, audio interviews from 1972 with Edward Dmytryk and from 1988 with sound recordist Gordon McCallum, a new interview with academic and author Richard Dyer and an image gallery. A Limited Edition-exclusive booklet includes "a new essay by Fintan McDonagh, archival articles on Edward Dmytryk's period in Britain and the making of Obsession, an archival interview with actor Naunton Wayne, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits".
Coming to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber is a box set: Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIX (1950-1952), a three-disc set which includes William Dieterle's Dark City (1950), Mitchell Leisen's No Man of Her Own (1950) and Harry Horner's Beware My Lovely (1952). While Dark City was previously released in 2014, here all three films are newly remastered by Paramount Pictures from 4K scans and come with new audio commentaries by author / film historian Alan K. Rode (Dark City), film historian Imogen Sara Smith (No Man of Her Own), film historian / writer Julie Kirgo and writer / filmmaker Peter Hankoff (No Man of Her Own) and professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney (Beware My Lovely), as well as theatrical trailers.
Coming to Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection is Emilio Fernández's Victims of Sin (Víctimas del pecado) (1951), starring Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta, Rita Montaner, Ismael Pérez and Margarita Ceballos. Sourced from a new 4K master by Powerhouse Films, Criterion presents Victims of Sin with LPCM Mono audio and optional, newly-translated English subtitles. Extras include: Two new interviews: One with filmmaker and archivist Viviana Garcia Besné and another with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto on the work of cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, an archival documentary on cine de rumberas (Rumberas films) featuring interviews with Ninón Sevilla and a trailer. Also included is an essay by scholar Jacqueline Avila.
And coming to 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray from Criterion is Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski's Bound (1996), starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Ryan, Christopher Meloni and Richard C. Sarafian. Sourced from a new 4K master (supervised and approved by cinematographer Bill Pope), Criterion presents Bound with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include filmmaker audio commentary, a new video essay by film critic Christina Newland, cast and crew interviews and trailers. Also included is an essay by scholar McKenzie Wark. For full release breakdowns, read Svet Atanasov's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
Coming to Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment is the box set Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III (1965), a two-disc set which includes Teruo Ishii's Abashiri Prison (網走番外地), Another Abashiri Prison Story (続・網走番外地) and Abashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness (網走番外地 望郷篇) (all 1965), starring Ken Takakura. Sourced from HD masters provided by Toei, Eureka presents all three films with lossless mono audio and optional, newly-translated English subtitles. Extras include new audio commentary tracks by Tom Mes, Chris Poggiali and Mike Leeder & Arne Venema, a new interview with critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns and a new video appreciation by Jasper Sharp and Mark Schilling, as well as trailers for all three films. A Limited Edition-exclusive booklet includes new writing by Schilling. Packaging includes a limited edition slipcover.
Coming to Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are five catalog titles. They are:
Elliot Silverstein's Cat Ballou (1965), starring Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman, Nat 'King' Cole and Stubby Kaye. Previously released as a limited edition by Twilight Time in 2016, this Sony disc contains two audio commentaries, the featurette The Legend of Cat Ballou and a theatrical trailer.
Henri Verneuil's The Burglars (1971), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif, Dyan Cannon, Robert Hossein, Nicole Calfan and Myriam Feune de Colombi. Sony presents two cuts of the film: The English-language version (The Burglars), and on a second disc, the French version (Le Casse).
John G. Avildsen's The Karate Kid (1984), starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller and William Zabka. Previously released on 4K UHD in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of The Karate Kid Collection (adding Dolby Vision HDR and deleted scenes), this new third edition adds a new audio commentary track from the creators of Cobra Kai, as well as 30 minutes of deleted scene dailies / raw footage. This edition also comes in Retro VHS packaging. Dolby Vision HDR is retained, as are the DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options.
Dennis Dugan's Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), starring Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Robin Shou, Nathaniel Parker, Soon-Tek Oh, Keith Cooke. Making its world premiere on Blu-ray, Sony presents Beverly Hills Ninja with a new audio commentary by Dennis Dugan and a theatrical trailer.
Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories (2007), starring Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr., Travis Smith and Lynnsee Provence. Extras include commentary by Jeff Nichols, an interview with Nichols, a photo album and a theatrical trailer.
Coming to 4K UHD from Paramount Home Media Distribution is Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman and Darrell Zwerling. Sourced from a 4K master, Chinatown comes to 4K UHD as part of the Paramount Presents line, with Dolby Vision HDR and a choice of 5.1 or mono audio tracks. New extras include A State of Mind: Author Sam Wasson on Chinatown, Chinatown Memories and The Trilogy That Never Was, while additional extras include audio commentary by screenwriter Robert Towne with David Fincher, the multi-part Water and Power, four shorter featurettes and a theatrical trailer. Also included in this release is a Blu-ray copy of the sequel film, The Two Jakes (1990).
Finally this week, Arrow Video have a 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray for Paul Schrader's American Gigolo (1980), starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, Nina van Pallandt, Bill Duke and Brian Davies. Sourced from a new 4K remaster from the original negative by Arrow Films, Arrow presents American Gigolo with a choice of lossless mono, stereo or 5.1 audio tracks and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD edition. New extras include audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin, new interviews with Paul Schrader, Hector Elizondo, Bill Duke, editor Richard Halsey, camera operator King Baggot and music supervisor Dan Wilcox, as well as a new interview with Professor Jennifer Clark, a trailer and an image gallery. Limited edition content includes an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Neil Sinyard, an archival article by Bill Nichols, and original pressbook materials", a reversible cover, a double-sided fold-out poster and six art cards. In addition to standard artwork, an Arrow Video Exclusive with Original Artwork will also be available.