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You are here: Community Film DVD/Blu-ray Roundup for Sept. 21, 2018

DVD/Blu-ray Roundup for Sept. 21, 2018

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Hello, it’s time for another look at highlights coming your way on Blu-ray and DVD. While it may be the fall, it’s the middle of the summer season for disc releases with plenty of blockbusters making their debuts. So if you can’t make it to the movies this week, be sure to give one of these titles a try!

Big New Releases!

Billionaire Boys Club - In this drama based loosely on a true story, a group of young businessmen start up a financial firm. Before long, they get caught up in a scam that causes ruin and endangers lives. Critics slashed this adaptation apart. One or two complimented the cast, but almost all others suggested the movie didn’t follow the actual events, taking far too much liberty with what actually happened. On top of that, they complained that the movie felt like little more than a knock-off of The Wolf of Wall Street knock-off. As of right now, it is being released on DVD only.

Damsel - Set in the late 1800s, a prosperous American businessman decides to traverse across the American West, marry his sweetheart and live in the wilderness. Accompanied by a drunken friend, the group ends up encountering great danger along the way and their roles and views of each other become confused. The cast includes Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Forster and David Zellner (who is also one of the directors).

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - The most recent chapter in this dinosaur series takes the adult leads from the previous installment and returns them to the now abandoned theme park. Once there, they try to rescue as many species as they can before the locale is obliterated by a volcano. The group soon discovers that their benefactors may have had ulterior motives for the operation. This picture was a massive hit with audiences, although it split reviewers. It features Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda and James Cromwell.

Lost Child - This thriller follows an army veteran with PTSD who returns to her home in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Hoping to find her estranged brother, she instead encounters a lost young boy in the backwoods. She takes him in and tries to find out where he belongs, but it soon becomes clear that the youngster may have a strange tie to supernatural folklore in the region. Could the child be a life-draining spirit known as the Tatterdemalion? Unfortunately, this one is debuting on disc and on streaming services, so there are no reviews as of yet. Leven Rambin, Taylor John Smith and Jim Parrack headline the feature.

Nana - The main subject of this documentary is Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant, who survived stints at Auschwitz, Ravensbruck and Malchow by being the forced translator for Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele. After the war, she set out to make the world aware of what happened and speak out against anti-Semitism. This feature follows her daughter and granddaughter, who continue the fight against intolerance and racism. The picture got decent notices, but not exceptional ones. While all felt that the message was strong, there was criticism that the movie spent too much time on the daughters of the historical figure and needed to delve more into life of the family matriarch.

Silencer - Transitioning back to a normal life can be tough, especially if you’re a hit man. This movie follows one such person who discovers that despite quitting, his employer isn’t ready to let him retire. In fact, his daughter is immediately kidnapped, leaving the assassin with one last and very personal job. The cast includes Johnny Messner, Robert LaSardo, Nikki Leigh and Danny Trejo.

Summer 1993 - This drama takes place during the titular time period. After the mysterious death of her mother, a little girl is taken in by her aunt and uncle and moved out to the country near a forest. Once there, she meets a young playmate. However, will the child’s traumatic past and personal issues cause distress for those in her new environment? This Spanish foreign-language feature earned phenomenal notices during its limited run earlier in the year. Reviewers called it a stunning and captivating look at the trails of childhood, suggesting it will linger in the brains of patient viewers. It features Laia Artigas, Paula Robles and Bruna Cusi.

Blasts from the Past!

They are also releasing a Blu-ray of The Pajama Girl Case (1977). This Italian giallo is actually set in Australia and involves a murder investigation that may have something to do with a waitress living nearby. The disc delivers another 2K restoration of the movie from the original camera negative and comes with new subtitles, a film expert commentary, an interview with a critic of giallo flicks, new clips with a cast member, the editor and the score composer, as well as an image gallery and trailer.

Arrow Academy’s putting out The Hired Hand (1971) as a “Special Edition” Blu-ray. This is a Western with Peter Fonda, Warren Oates and Verna Bloom about a frontier explorer who returns to his wife after years apart and struggles with home life. Peter Fonda, who also directed the movie, provides an audio commentary for the release. The disc also includes a 2003 documentary on the film, another doc on the screenwriter, deleted scenes, an interview with Martin Scorcese about the feature, Warren Oates and Fonda talking at the National Film Theatre and many other extras.

Kino has several Blu-rays of note. The first is the Gene Hackman and Danny Glover Vietnam film, Bat*21 (1988). This release includes a director’s commentary. If comedy is more to your liking, then there’s the Chris Elliott pirate parody, Cabin Boy (1994). It’s pretty goofy, but features an amusing cameo from retired late-night talk show host David Letterman. This one comes with plenty of bonuses, including a star and director audio track as well as new interviews with the pair, audition tapes, B-roll footage, outtakes, TV spots and a trailer.

James Bond fans may want to give Gold (1974) a try on Blu-ray. This one stars the late, great Roger Moore as the manager of a gold mine who must deal with a plot to cause a massive flood. It arrives with a film historian commentary. Impulse (1984) is an interesting little thriller about a couple who returns to their hometown and find the locals behaving erratically, and eventually, violently. It stars Tim Matheson and Meg Tilly. The disc includes an audio track with the director. Finally, Kino has a Blu-ray of Retroactive (1997), a time-travel crime thriller with Jim Belushi.

Recently, Well Go USA released a box set of the Phantasm horror film series. They are now making two more Blu-ray titles from the set available individually. These include Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) and Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998). Both discs come with the same bonuses present on the box set version.

Shout! Factory’s known for their releases of genre film, but this week sees a different sort of feature from them. It comes in the form of an updated Blu-ray of the Best Picture Oscar-winner, Platoon (1986). The feature is being put out as a “Limited Edition Steelbook.” The film itself has been given a 4K restoration approved by director Oliver Stone, as well as multiple extras, including two audio commentaries, deleted and extended scenes, documentary features on the production and several other making-of bonuses about the movie.

Not to totally shy away from their fanbase, the distributor is also giving horror fans a Blu-ray of Scream for Help (1984). It’s about a teenage who discovers her stepfather is about to murder her mom and sets out to stop the plan. The film has been given a new 2K scan and comes with a film critic commentary as well as interviews with the “stepdad” and the writer. I’ve never seen this chiller and will be interested to check it out.

Finally, Criterion’s putting out a Blu-ray of the screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). As with all releases from this company, the movie has been given a new transfer and comes with numerous extras that go into detail about this classic and its satire of class structure.

You Know, For Kids!

Here are some new releases that may appeal to youngsters.

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Family Fun Collection (PBS)

The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 3

On the Tube!

And below is a listing of this week’s TV-themed releases — there’s some great variety in this edition.

Blondie: The Complete 1957 TV Series

Community: The Complete Series

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (Hallmark TV-movie)

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Family Fun Collection (PBS)

Fahrenheit 451 (HBO Made-for-Cable movie)

Frontline: UN Sex Abuse Scandal (PBS)

The Gifted: Season 1

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: The Complete Series

The Looming Tower: Season 1

MacGuyver: Season 2

Madam Secretary: Season 4

Magnum P.I.: The Complete Series

Masterpiece: Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew (PBS)

Masterpiece: The Miniaturist (PBS)

NOVA: Rise of the Superstorms (PBS)

The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 3

Supergirl: Season 3

X-Files: Season 11

By Glenn Kay

For the Sun