Posted December 8, 2024 09:53 PM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of December 9th, the Criterion Collection will release Bertrand Bonello's The Beast (La Bête) (2023), starring Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali and Elina Löwensohn.
Description: By the year 2044, artificial intelligence reigns, and human emotions are a liability that must be surgically removed to produce a more pliant workforce. But this procedure triggers Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) to experience haunting memories of her past lives, as she encounters different incarnations of her paramour, Louis (George MacKay), first in belle epoque Paris and then in 2014 Los Angeles. As she once more undergoes the pains and pleasures of romance—and rediscovers what it means to be truly alive—Gabrielle awaits the erasure of her humanity with growing fascination and dread. In his most ambitious film yet, visionary director Bertrand Bonello freely adapts Henry James's novella The Beast in the Jungle into a visually stunning science-fiction labyrinth that is as metaphysically mysterious as it is emotionally powerful. Powered by Seydoux's heartrending performance, The Beast poignantly imagines the consequences of humankind becoming too afraid to risk the inherent vulnerability of love.
Criterion's Blu-ray of The Beast contains an interview with Bertrand Bonello and a trailer.
Also coming from Criterion is a 4K UHD upgrade for Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk and Barbara Steele. Sourced from a new 4K master, Criterion presents 8½ in 4K SDR with LPCM Mono audio and optional English subtitles. Extras include a 2001 audio commentary with film critics Gideon Bachmann and Antonio Monda, while an included Blu-ray disc also features an introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam, the documentaries The Last Sequence, Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert and Fellini: A Director's Notebook, archival interviews with Sandra Milo, filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, a trailer and more. Also included is an essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek. For a full release breakdown, read Svet Atanasov's 4K UHD review.
Finally from Criterion is a remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD upgrade for Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men (2007), starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald and Garret Dillahunt. Sourced from a 4K master (supervised and approved by director of photography Roger Deakins), Criterion presents No Country for Old Men with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. New extras include a conversation between the Coens and author Megan Abbott and a second conversation between Deakins, Abbott and associate producer David Diliberto. Legacy extras include cast interviews, a short behind-the-scenes documentary, a making of and other featurettes and a trailer. Also included is "an essay by author Francine Prose and a 2007 piece on the film by author Larry McMurtry". For full release breakdowns, read Svet Atanasov's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
Coming from BBC Studios is a Blu-ray box set of the Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary Specials (2023), starring David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Neil Patrick Harris and Yasmin Finney. Included are three specials: The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle:
Description: Their time has come! David Tennant and Catherine Tate return as the Doctor and Donna for three special episodes. The Doctor is caught in a fight to the death as a spaceship crash-lands in London. But as the battle wreaks havoc, destiny is converging on the Doctor's old friend, Donna. The Tardis takes the Doctor and Donna to the furthest edge of adventure. To escape, they must face the most desperate fight of their lives, with the fate of the universe at stake. The giggle of a mysterious puppet is driving the human race insane. When the Doctor discovers the return of the terrifying Toymaker, he faces a fight he can never win.
Also coming from BBC is a Blu-ray for Blake's 7: The Collection - Series 1 (1978) starring Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Sally Knyvette, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell and Jacqueline Pearce. The six-disc box set contains all 13 episodes of the first series (season) of the show, with both original and updated special effects. Extras include a new documentary on the production of the first series, The Making of Blake's 7 with extensive cast and crew interviews, an interview with Sally Knyvette, a tribute to actor Stephen Greif, convention footage, archive content, DVD extras, including audio commentaries and featurettes and much more.
New from Capelight Pictures International, in association with MPI Media Group, is a Blu-ray and 4K UHD release for Oh Sang-ho's The Roundup: Punishment (범죄도시4), starring Ma Dong-seok, Kim Mu-yeol, Park Ji-hwan, Lee Dong-hwi, Lee Beom-su and Kim Min-jae.
Description: During the investigations of a drug trafficking app, the Monster Cop Ma Seok-do (Don Lee) and his team discover a connection between the wanted app developer, who was killed in the Philippines, and a massive illegal online gambling organization. Meanwhile in the Philippines, Baek Chang-gi, a former elite soldier, has been controlling the Korean online illegal gambling market, terrorizing it with kidnap, assault and murder. His partner, the IT genius CEO, Chang Dong-chul plans an even larger scheme in Korea. To put an end to the escalating threat, Detective Ma expands the operation by proposing an unexpected alliance to Jang, and unfolds the biggest roundup mission to hunt down the criminals, collaborating with the cyber unit and Metro Investigations.
Capelight and MPI present The Roundup: Punishment with Korean: DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, English subtitles and HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Note that as of this writing, the 4K UHD release only comes in "Mediabook" packaging, similar to DigiBook packaging.
Also new on Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Capelight and MPI is Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's The Soul Eater (Le Mangeur d'âmes) (2024), starring Virginie Ledoyen, Paul Hamy, Francis Renaud, Malik Zidi, Sandrine Bonnaire and Chloé Coulloud.
Description: Chief Inspector Elisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) is sent to the remote mountain village of Roquenoir to investigate a gruesome double murder. At the same time, Gendarmerie Captain Franck de Rolan (Paul Hamy) arrives in the small community to investigate the abduction of several local children. There is nothing to suggest a connection between the cases. But then Guardiano and de Rolan come across the ancient legend of the Soul Eater...
Capelight and MPI present The Soul Eater with French: DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, English subtitles and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc.
New on Blu-ray from Arrow Video is Cody Kennedy and Tim Rutherford's The Last Video Store, starring Kevin Martin, Leland Tilden, Matthew Kennedy, Josh Lenner and Yaayaa Adams.
Description: A love letter to video rental stores and the B-movie treasures that lined their walls, Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford's debut feature, The Last Video Store, is a genre-loving blast of pure joy: "a real treasure trove for genre fans, both new and old." (Kat Hughes, THN)
When her estranged father passes, twenty-something Nyla is tasked with the thing she hates the most – cleaning up his mess. Left behind are a collection of VHS tapes, and with them, the burden of returning them to "Blaster Video" a time capsule to an era in which cover art and a catchy movie title were king, run by Kevin, a human encyclopaedia of VHS history and a friend of her father. Amongst the returns is an unknown tape, a movie not even Kevin has heard of. Was this the last movie Nyla's father watched before he died? The mystery is too much to resist. But when Kevin and Nyla press play, they unwittingly activate a long-dormant curse and a series of classic cinematic villains are plucked from B-movie heaven and hell to be unleashed into the store itself!
With style, charm and note perfect performances, The Last Video Store is a must for physical media fans. An elegy to the cinephilic havens of movie wisdom that could once be found on every corner, and the heroes like Kevin who staffed them.
Arrow's Blu-ray of The Last Video Store contains audio commentary by film critics Matt Donato & Meagan Navarro, visual essays by film critics Heather Wixson and Martyn Pedlar, the short films 'Twas the Night of the Tree Beast (2012), M is For Magnetic Tape (2013) and The Video Store Commercial (2019), as well as the original short film of The Last Video Store (2013), clips from the first attempted feature version of the film, behind-the-scenes footage, three previs shorts, an image gallery and a trailer. Also included is an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics Anton Bitel and Alexandra West". Collectible packaging includes a double-sided, fold-out poster and a reversible cover.
Coming to 4K UHD from Arrow is Abel Ferrara's The Addiction (1995), starring Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Paul Calderon and Fredro Starr. Sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, Arrow presents The Addiction with Dolby Vision HDR and a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 audio options. Extras include audio commentary by Abel Ferrara, the documentary Talking with the Vampires, an interview with Ferrara, an appreciation by Brad Stevens, Abel Edits The Addiction, an image gallery and a trailer. Also included is an "illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by critic Michael Ewins and an archival interview with Ferrara by Paul Duanet". Collectible packaging includes a reversible cover. For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's 4K UHD review.
Coming to Blu-ray from Ignite Films is William A. Wellman's The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), starring Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele, Wally Cassell, Jimmy Lloyd and John R. Reilly. Newly remastered from a preservation element, Ignite Films presents The Story of G.I. Joe with LPCM 2.0 Mono audio. Extras include audio commentary by Alan K. Rode, a new visual essay by Scott Tafoya, a new interview with Bill Wellman Jr., The Story of The Story of G.I. Joe, a photo gallery and both original and reconstructed trailers. For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Coming to remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Powerhouse Films / Indicator is Jean Rollin's Requiem for a Vampire (Requiem pour un vampire) (1972), starring Marie-Pierre Castel, Mireille Dargent, Philippe Gasté, Dominique, Louise Dhour and Michel Delesalle. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Indicator presents Requiem for a Vampire in both its original French and English versions, with original mono audio and optional, new and improved English or English SDH subtitles. Extras include new audio commentary by film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, selected-scene audio commentary with Jean Rollin from 2005, an introduction by Rollin from 1998, newly edited archival interviews with Rollin, Dhour and actor Paul Bisciglia, a new making of documentary, a new appreciation by author and film historian Virginie Sélavy, alternative sequences, trailers and more. Also included is a "limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Maria J Pérez Cuervo, archival writing by Jean Rollin on the making of the film, an archival interview with the director by Peter Blumenstock, an extract from the film's pressbook, an English translation of Rollin's story 'The Last Book', and full film credits".
Also coming from Indicator is a remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD release for Jean Rollin's The Escapees (Les Échappées) (1981), starring Laurence Dubas, Christiane Coppé, Marianne Valiot, Patrick Perrot, Louise Dhour and Jean-Louis Fortuit. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Indicator presents The Escapees in both its original version and the alternative version, Les Paumées du petit matin with re-ordered scenes, both with original mono audio and optional, new and improved English subtitles. Extras include new audio commentary film expert Tim Lucas, an interview with Jean Rollin from 2008, a new remembrance of actress Louise Dhour by regular Rollin collaborators Natalie Perrey and Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, previously unseen interview with actor Jean-Loup Phillipe, a new appreciation by author and musician Stephen Thrower and image galleries. Also included is a "limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Lucas Balbo, archival writing on the film by Jean Rollin, an archival interview with the director, an archival interview with composer Philippe D'Aram, a tribute to Rollin by fantastique cinema expert Nicolas Stanzick, and full film credits".
Also this week, Shout Factory have several titles coming to 4K UHD. They are:
Allan Arkush's Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), starring P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Shout presents Rock 'n' Roll High School with DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new audio commentary with author Stephen B. Armstrong (I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock 'n' Roll High School) and a new interview with musician and actor Marky Ramone. Legacy extras include four additional audio commentaries, the documentary Class of '79: 40 Years of 'Rock 'n' Roll High School, the featurettes Back to School and Staying After Class, a 2019 Sunday Slasher Rock 'n' Roll High School Intro with Allan Arkush, interviews with Arkush and Roger Corman, audio outtakes, radio ads, a theatrical trailer and TV spot.
Charles E. Sellier Jr.'s Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), starring Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson, Britt Leach and Nancy Borgenicht. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Shout presents Silent Night, Deadly Night with DTS-HD MA Mono audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new audio commentary with author Amanda Reyes and The Hysteria Continues podcast, as well as new interviews with producer Scott Schneid, editor Michael Spence and Schneid and producer Dennis Whitehead. Also included is Slay Bells Ring: The Story Of Silent Night, Deadly Night, an interview with Linnea Quigley, a locations featurette, a radio interview with Charles E. Sellier Jr., the featurette Santa's Stocking of Outrage a poster and still gallery, US R-rated and Japanese VHS trailers, TV spots and a radio spot.
The box set Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection (1989-2008), which contains the 4K UHD premieres of the iconic claymation duo's short films A Grand Day Out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995) and A Matter of Loaf or Death (2008), as well as two Blu-ray discs with the short films, the ten Cracking Contraptions (2002) shorts and the feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). The four short films are presented on 4K UHD in 4K SDR with a choice of DTS-HD MA 2.0 or 5.1 audio tracks. Extras include audio commentaries, an interview with Peter Lord and Nick Park, The Amazing World of Wallace & Gromit, Inside The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave – How They Did It, The Making of A Matter of Loaf and Death – How They Donut, When Wallace Met Harvey, a picture gallery and invention blueprints. Also included is a booklet and stickers.
Seth MacFarlane's Ted (2012), starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale, Giovanni Ribisi and Patrick Warburton. Sourced from the original digital intermediate, Shout presents the unrated cut of Ted with a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. New extras include interviews with co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and with producer Jason Clark. Legacy extras include filmmaker commentary, a making of featurette, deleted scenes, alternate takes, a gag reel and more.
David Twohy's Riddick (2013), starring Vin Diesel, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista and Bokeem Woodbine. Sourced from a new 4K master (supervised and approved by David Twohy), Shout presents both the theatrical and unrated versions of Riddick with Dolby Vision HDR and a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks. New extras include interviews with David Twohy, Jordi Mollà and Katee Sackhoff, as well as five legacy featurettes and a motion comic.
Finally this week, Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm have a 4K UHD release for Ron Howard's Willow (1988), starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh, Patricia Hayes and Billy Barty. Disney and Lucasfilm present Willow with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras are found on a legacy Blu-ray and include audio commentary, deleted scenes, a making of, featurettes, TV spots and trailers and more. For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's 4K UHD review.
Note: As of this writing, Willow is only available on 4K UHD in SteelBook packaging.