By the time this post is published, the Oscars should be over. (With that interminable ceremony, there’s a chance maybe not.) Some of this week’s new disc releases were nominated. Did they win anything? I’d guess no, but the nominations alone may propel them to some sales.
Loading ...New Releases (Blu-ray)
Ralph Breaks the Internet – I still contend that the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph ought to be called Ralph Wrecks the Internet, not Breaks the Internet, dumb reference to Kim and Kanye be damned. The original film was, if not an all-time animated classic, at least a cute and charming Disney effort. By most accounts, the follow-up is a worthy successor. It did just about as well at the box office and scored an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. On disc, Disney provides a plethora of options, including a 4k SteelBook at Best Buy and an exclusive Digipak at Target. Sadly, it appears that no 3D option is available, not even overseas.
Mary Queen of Scots – Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie star in a period costume drama that was widely criticized for its flagrant historical inaccuracies and melodrama. As helmed by theater director Josie Rourke making her film debut, all anyone liked about the movie were the look and style of the piece, which would account for its Oscar nominations in the Costume Design and Makeup/Hairstyling categories. Reviews were decidedly tepid and, though not an outright flop, it underperformed financially as well.
Border – Competing for that Makeup/Hairstyling prize is a weird Swedish film about a Customs officer (Eva Melander) who can literally smell guilt. Based on a story by Let the Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist, I’m told that it’s best to go in cold without knowing much else about the plot, and just let it take you on a very strange ride. The movie was something of a sensation at Cannes, where it won the Un Certain Regard award, which goes to productions with a distinctive personal vision.
Between Worlds – Playing directly to his cult fandom, Nicolas Cage headlines a supernatural thriller about a grubby truck driver who gets involved with a psychic woman (Franka Potente) with the power to speak to the dead – but only while she’s being choked. Designed explicitly for the midnight screening crowd at film festivals, the movie received very mixed reactions at Fantastic Fest last year, where our Deirdre hated almost everything about it.
The Possession of Hannah Grace – More supernatural shenanigans are on tap when an ex-cop (Shay Mitchell from Pretty Little Liars) takes a job working the midnight shift at a morgue where spooky things happen. Critics rolled their eyes and even horror fans didn’t seem to think much of it, but the movie was produced for such a low budget that it had no trouble turning a profit.
UHD
Arriving day-and-date with the standard Blu-ray copies are Ultra HD editions of Ralph Breaks the Internet and Mary Queen of Scots, along with the disc debut of a new David Attenborough nature documentary called Dynasties.
Making the upgrade to 4k are Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Both have SteelBook options at Best Buy, while Little Mermaid also gets a Digibook at Target.
Catalog Titles
A corresponding Blu-ray reissue of The Little Mermaid is available for those viewers not on-board with Ultra HD yet.
Director Charles Burnett’s acclaimed 1990 drama To Sleep with Anger joins the Criterion Collection. Danny Glover stars as a down-home Southern drifter who upends the lives of some old friends now living in South Central L.A.
Blake Edwards is probably the last name you’d expect to direct a Western, but he did just that in 1971 with Wild Rovers, starring William Holden and Ryan O’Neal as a couple of cowpokes turned bank robbers. Butchered by the studio upon its release, the Warner Archive Blu-ray restores Edwards’ original “roadshow” version of the film.
Joining the Shout Select line are the early Robert Zemeckis comedy Used Cars (formerly a Twilight Time exclusive) and a double feature of both Legally Blonde movies.
Paramount reissues the loverly 50th Anniversary Edition of My Fair Lady in a regular keepcase package.
The 1983 cult trashterpiece Mausoleum that Adam enjoyed so much recently moves to general retail after a period of exclusivity on the Vinegar Syndrome web site.
Discotek Media offers separate editions of the 1979 anime classic Galaxy Express 999 and its 1981 sequel Adieu, Galaxy Express 999.
I’m a little puzzled by new Complete Collection release of the anime series Kino’s Journey, which clearly states on the packaging that the episodes are standard-definition upconverts. A more expensive copy of the same series released last year made no mention of being standard-def, at least not on the front cover image available online. Were those discs true high-def while the new edition is a downgrade, or (perhaps more likely) are they all the same thing? I watched the 2003 series, a post-apocalyptic road trip fantasy about a young girl and her talking motorcycle, back when it was released on DVD, and my memory of it is that the animation had a weird, low-res style with simulated scan-line artifacts to make it look like watching an old CRT television. It’s very possible that the production was limited to standard-definition all along.
Television
With all the Oscar buzz around Glenn Close, now might be a good time to revisit her legal thriller Damages. The Complete Series Blu-ray package includes all five seasons – the three that aired on FX as well as the two after it moved to DirecTV.
My $.02
My priority this week is to get the Ralph Breaks the Internet SteelBook, which is proving to be needlessly difficult due to Best Buy’s incompetence. At present, the product is not available for shipping, only for in-store pickup, but of course not at any stores near me. I’m getting really tired of running into this problem.
Border seems like a movie I need to check out. I’ll also put To Sleep with Anger on my wish list for a future Criterion sale.
I’ve long meant to watch the Galaxy Express 999 movies, but Discotek’s asking price for both is a little too steep for me right now, so I think I’ll wait to see if they ever get a price drop.
What’s the breakdown of your plans for the week?
Julian
Ooh, ‘Used Cars’, excellent. Wonder if there are any new special features included. I have the Twilight Time Blu-ray, which contains a truly hilarious audio commentary with Zemeckis, Gale and Kurt Russell, who are constantly cracking up at each other’s jokes. After a while, you start to laugh along. Very infectious.
‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ is a pre-order on most European websites (the movie’s still playing in most countries’ theatres), so perhaps a 3D Blu will be announced at a later time. Fnac.com usually has one (not for now, I checked).
Csm101
I have Spun ordered. I’m wanting to pick up the Wreck It Ralph sequel, but I may just rent it for now. I miss the days when Best Buy would give a discount if one would purchase Disney titles in bundles. I thought I read somewhere that the other Captain America titles were coming to uhd closer to the Avengers theatrical release. I’ll probably pick them up that way. I still haven’t picked up Mausoleum but the time is getting close. The Possession of Hannah Grace looks like fun for a rental. Wacko looks kind of fun as well.
Chris
I’ll stream Hannah Grace when it eventuallu shows up on one of the services I have. Nothing else this week.
EM
I saw Border (Gräns) theatrically. Itʼs the sort of movie I donʼt intend to ever view again yet am glad to have seen. I agree: Donʼt try to find out much about it before seeing it; if itʼs already intriguing you, just go with that feeling.
DaMac80
Captain America UHD and Used Cars for me. Not a big comedy collector but I do love Kurt Russel.
Lord Bowler
I’ll be picking up:
The Mole People – Really great classic B-Movie starring John Agar!
Used Cars (Shout Select)
Art A
I may end up picking up the 4K of Captain America but I’ll wait for your review to decide.
DaMac80
If it looks anywhere near as improved as The Avengers releases it should be a treat.
Krawk
Beyblade V-Force, Ralph 4K, Little Mermaid 4K (trying to get the SteelBook tomorrow), Capt America 4K. Interested in Damages & Dynasties 4K.
William Henley
Sorry for coming in so late, it has been a crazy few weeks.
You know, I hear about Josh having issues getting the Steelbooks from Best Buy all the time. I don’t understand the issue – I have never had an issue. However, from the sounds of it, it sounds like he is waiting until release day to buy them. It’s actually quite simple – when Best Buy announces it, preorder it. I don’t understand the concept of waiting – if the Steelbook is a Best Buy exclusive, and you know you want the Steelbook, why wait until release day or right before release day? The product has probably been announced for months. There is this fantastic website called High Def Digest that tells you when preorders go up.
I don’t mean to be mean or anything, I just fail to see how this keeps coming up as an issue. You know the store is probably not going to have the discs, you know the disc is probably going to be sold out online on release day, you know you want the Best Buy exclusive, so just preorder. It is not that hard. Go to their website, put in your cart, supply a credit card number, done. You will get it anywhere from 2 weeks before until two months after the street date, depending on Best Buy’s compentency at that time (I got Little Mermaid and Ralph Wreaks The Internet over a week before street date).
Josh Zyber
AuthorWhen Best Buy lists new SteelBooks on their web site, they are typically available for shipping only with no in-store pickup option. I don’t want to pay the shipping fee (not to mention that Best Buy has a horrible track record for shipping SteelBooks in flimsy padded envelopes as if to guarantee that they get dented and scratched). So I wait until the in-store pickup option is available. Inevitably, however, by the time that happens, the SteelBook I want will not be available at a store within 100 miles of me, and even shipping will no longer be an option at that time.
Fortunately, in this case, my local store did get some copies of the Ralph SteelBook, which I picked up this weekend.