Posted January 19, 2025 11:00 PM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of January 20th, MUBI will release Coralie Fargeat's The Substance, starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams and Oscar Lesage.
Description: Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. You've got to try this product: The Substance. It changed my life. Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid). She is then drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: THE SUBSTANCE. All it takes is one injection and she is reborn – temporarily – as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue (Margaret Qualley). The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong?
MUBI's Blu-ray releases of The Substance contain DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc, Extras include a short featurette. For a full release breakdown, read Kenneth Brown's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
New on Blu-ray from Sony is Robert Zemeckis' Here (2024), starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Ellis Grunsell and Teddy Russell.
Description: Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, HERE is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, Back to the Future) directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune: Part One, A Star is Born) and him. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, TOM HANKS and ROBIN WRIGHT star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right Here.
Sony's Blu-ray of Here contains a making of featurette and deleted scenes.
Also new from Sony is a Blu-ray and 4K UHD for Kelly Marcel's Venom: The Last Dance, starring Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Graham and Peggy Lu.
Description: In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie's last dance.
Sony's 4K UHD release of Venom: The Last Dance contains the film's Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR. Extras include outtakes and bloopers, deleted and extended scenes and several featurettes. In addition to standard packaging, a Collector's Edition SteelBook will also be available. For full release breakdowns, read Kenneth Brown's Blu-ray review, 4K UHD review and 4K UHD SteelBook review.
New on 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo pack from Paramount Home Media Distribution is Parker Finn's Smile 2, starring Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson and Ray Nicholson.
Description: About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Paramount's Blu-ray releases of Smile 2 contain the film's Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include audio commentary with Parker Finn, deleted and extended scenes and several featurettes. In addition to standard packaging, a Limited Edition SteelBook will also be available.
New on Blu-ray and retailer-exclusive 4K UHD from A24 is Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' Heretic, starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young and Julie Lynn Mortensen.
Description: Two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). Made to choose between belief and disbelief, they find themselves plunged into the darkest labyrinths of Reed's mind and a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in this twisted horror from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place).
A24's Blu-ray releases of Heretic contain the film's Dolby Atmos audio, with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD edition. Extras include audio commentary with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, a making-of featurette and six postcards with on-set photography by Kimberly French.
Note: A24's Blu-ray releases of Heretic are available in digipack packaging and the 4K UHD edition is an A24 Shop Exclusive.
New on Blu-ray from Decal Releasing is Uberto Pasolini's The Return (2024), starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer, Marwan Kenzari, Tom Rhys Harries and Ángela Molina.
Description: After 20 years away, Odysseus (Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope (Binoche) is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king. Their son Telemachus faces death at the hands of these suitors, who see him as merely an obstacle to their pursuit of the kingdom. Odysseus has also changed—scarred by his experience of the Trojan war, he is no longer the mighty warrior from years past— but he must rediscover his strength in order to win back all he has lost.
Also new on Blu-ray from Decal Releasing is Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson's Rumours (2024), starring Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira and Denis Ménochet.
Description: A genre-hopping political-satire-cum-horror-comedy starring Cate Blanchett, Rumours follows leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit as they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.
Decal Releasing's Blu-ray of Rumours contains a teaser trailer.
New on Blu-ray from Vertical Entertainment is George Nolfi's Elevation (2024), starring Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson, Shauna Earp, Danny Boyd Jr. and Drexel Malkoff.
Description: Set in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains, a single father and two women venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy.
New on Blu-ray from Well Go USA is Stanley Tong's A Legend (传说), starring Jackie Chan, Gülnezer Bextiyar, Yixing Zhang, Aarif Lee, Chen Li and Alan Dawa Dolma.
Description: While working with his students on a glacier excavation, Professor Chen, an expert archeologist, notices the artifacts they discovered are strikingly similar to a jade pendant he had seen in his dreams. Suspecting the pendant is creating a mystical connection between past and present - the realm of dreams and reality - he leads his research team on an expedition deep into the Glacier Temple in search of the truth and a connection to his past, but their journey across the ice is filled with life-threatening obstacles and dangerous surprises.
Well Go USA's Blu-ray of A Legend contains a trailer. For a full disc breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Turning to catalog titles, Kino Lorber have a Blu-ray for Jud Taylor's Fade In (1968), starring Burt Reynolds, Barbara Loden, Patricia Casey, Noam Pitlik, James Hampton and Joseph V. Perry. Sourced from a 2021 4K scan of the original camera negative by Paramount Pictures, Kino presents Fade In with two new audio commentary tracks: One by filmmaker Daniel Kremer and another by entertainment journalists and authors Bryan Reesman and Max Evry. Packaging also features a slipcover with newly commissioned artwork by Vince Evans.
Also coming to Blu-ray from Kino is a new Blu-ray of Denis Sanders' Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973), starring William Smith, Anitra Ford, Victoria Vetri, Cliff Osmond, Wright King and Ben Hammer. Previously released in 2017 (and currently out-of-print), Kino's release of Invasion of the Bee Girls includes a new audio commentary by film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, as well as two newly remastered theatrical trailers and radio spots.
Finally, Kino has three titles coming to 4K UHD. They are:
Bob Clark's Murder by Decree (1979), starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Donald Sutherland, Genevičve Bujold, John Gielgud and David Hemmings. Sourced from a 4K master by StudioCanal, Kino presents Murder by Decree with a choice of lossless 2.0 or 5.1 audio tracks and in 4K SDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include two archival audio commentaries: One by Bob Clark and another by film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell, as well as a theatrical trailer.
Fred Walton's April Fool's Day (1986), starring Jay Baker, Deborah Foreman, Deborah Goodrich, Ken Olandt, Griffin O'Neal and Leah Pinsent. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Kino presents April Fool's Day with a choice of lossless 2.0 or 5.1 audio tracks and Dolby Vision HDR. Extras include new audio commentary by by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, while additional extras are on a dedicated Blu-ray and include a two-part interview with Fred Walton as well as interviews with actors Deborah Goodrich Royce and Clayton Rohner, composer Charles Bernstein and cinematographer Charles Minsky. Also included are TV spots and a theatrical trailer.
The theatrical cut of John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games (2000), starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Isaac Hayes, Ron Jeremy and Donal Logue. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, Kino presents the theatrical cut of Reindeer Games with a choice of lossless 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks and Dolby Vision HDR. Extras include a Blu-ray of the director's cut of the film from a 1080p HD master, while both cuts come with archival audio commentary by John Frankenheimer. Also included is a behind-the-scenes featurette and a theatrical trailer.
Coming to remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD from the Criterion Collection is Stephen Frears' The Grifters (1990), starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh and Charles Napier. Sourced from a new 4K master (approved by cinematographer Oliver Stapleton), Criterion presents The Grifters with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Surround audio track and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new interview with Annette Bening, archival audio commentary with Frears, Cusack, Huston and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake, a 2013 making of featurette, the feature-length documentary Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of "The Grifters" (2018), the 2013 featurette The Jim Thompson Story and a trailer for the film. Also included is an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. For full release breakdowns, read Svet Atanasov's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.
Coming to remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment are three films by Quentin Tarantino: Jackie Brown (1997), starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro, and both Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine and Michael Madsen. Each release includes DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio with Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs. Extras include Breaking Down Jackie Brown, Jackie Brown: How it Went Down, A Look Back at Jackie Brown, making of featurettes for both Kill Bill films, as well as several shorter featurettes and other extras. In addition to standard packaging, Limited Edition SteelBooks for Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 will also be available as exclusives on Lionsgate's new Lionsgate Limited website.
Finally this week, Arrow Video has a remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD for Tarsem Singh's The Cell (2000), starring Jennifer Lopez, Colton James, Dylan Baker, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Gerry Becker and Musetta Vander. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative by Warner Bros. MPI, Arrow presents both the theatrical and director's cuts of The Cell with DTS-HD MA 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 audio tracks and in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD edition. Extras include four audio commentaries, including two new commentaries: One by film scholars Josh Nelson and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and another by screenwriter Mark Protosevich and film critic Kay Lynch. Also included with the feature disc is a new 90-minute interview with Tarsem Singh and a a new 43-minute interview with cinematographer Paul Laufer. Included on a second Blu-ray disc is a version of the theatrical cut from a 2K master, presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and with alternative grading by Laufer, as well as an interview with Laufer about the alternative version. Additional extras include new visual essays by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and film critic Abby Bender, the archival featurette Style as Substance: Reflections on Tarsem, deleted scenes with optional commentary by Singh, six multi-angle special effects vignettes, theatrical trailers and an image gallery. Also included is an "illustrated collector's book containing new writing on the film by critics Heather Drain, Marc Edward Heuck, Josh Hurtado, and Virat Nehru". Limited edition packaging includes a reversible cover with new and original artwork. For full release breakdowns, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review and 4K UHD review.