Marvel’s first female-led superhero blockbuster comes home to Blu-ray and Ultra HD this week, just in time to temper everyone’s disappointment over how the second one turned out.
That “second one” being Dark Phoenix, which may not be part of the MCU but is still a Marvel production, and hasn’t been received very well so far.
Loading ...New Releases (Blu-ray)
Captain Marvel – DC did it two years ago, and Marvel finally follows suit (21 movies into the MCU) by releasing a superhero epic with a woman in the lead. What do you know, people liked it. The movie got mostly positive reviews and grossed over $1.1 billion at the box office. As usual, disc options are plentiful from Blu-ray to 4k, though 3D fans will still need to shop overseas for that format.
Five Feet Apart – A YA romance finds sickly (yet gorgeous) teenagers falling in love despite not being able to make physical contact. Hmm, doesn’t that sound a lot like 2017’s Everything, Everything or 2018’s Midnight Sun? If you’d already forgotten those films, I don’t imagine this one will stick in memory much longer.
Captive State – John Goodman and Vera Farmiga star in an alien invasion thriller that sounds to have basically the same plot as the USA Network’s recently-canceled Colony (not to mention V). Rupert Wyatt, who seemed to have a promising career ahead of him after Rise of the Planet of the Apes, directed to much less success or acclaim this time.
Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure – One of the worst-reviewed animated kids’ films of the millennium gets a DTV sequel that nobody asked for. Even Rob Schneider couldn’t be bothered to do the voice again.
The Mustang – The recent mini-wave of horse movies (which also includes the likes of Lean on Pete and The Rider) gets another entry with a prison drama about an inmate (Matthias Schoenaerts) who bonds with the title creature as part of a social rehabilitation program. Critics were willing to overlook a fairly formulaic redemption narrative and were impressed with the performances and filmmaking.
UHD
Captain Marvel busts some heads in 4k. Best Buy has a SteelBook while a Target exclusive comes with a 40-page filmmaker book.
Sony already previously released both of the original Ghostbusters movies on Ultra HD. In addition to SteelBook packaging, the new five-disc bundle adds a bounty of new bonus features including rare deleted scenes and an entire episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show featuring the cast.
With movies 4 and 5 now bumped up to 4k, the entire Fast and Furious franchise is finally available on UHD. If you haven’t already bought the others, you can get the whole series in an eight-movie collection.
Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi also makes its way to the new format.
Catalog Titles
The Criterion Collection will get your toes a-tappin’ with the classic Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical Swing Time.
The Warner Archive digs up Frank Sinatra’s sole directing effort, the 1965 WWII adventure drama None But the Brave.
Arbelos Films shows some gratitude for indie director Andrew Bujalski’s 2005 comedy Mutual Appreciation.
Since it’s Pride Month, Shout! Factory has dredged up the notorious 1980 Village People musical flop Can’t Stop the Music and the 1995 gay rom-com Jeffrey.
Scream Factory scares up Hammer Films’ 1967 Frankenstein Created Woman and the 1982 ghost story The Entity, as well as a SteelBook reissue of Joe Dante’s 1978 killer fish flick Piranha.
Dark Sky Films likewise puts Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre into a new SteelBook.
Amazon shows two new listings for The Godfather Trilogy this week. As far as I can tell, both are repackages of the Blu-rays that have been available for a decade. The one called the Corleone Legacy Edition has a slightly nicer box and some art cards. Whether that’s worth paying extra for is up to you, when the original collection release is still available for less than either new set.
More reissues from Paramount include a 15th Anniversary Edition of Mean Girls and a three-film bundle of the “Kelvin Timeline” Star Trek reboot movies (the ones with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto).
Television
You have a few weeks to catch up with the sixth season of Orange Is the New Black before Season 7 debuts on Netflix in July.
Chris Pine plays a 1950s journalist trying to crack the infamous Black Dahlia murder in the TNT network’s six-episode miniseries I Am the Night. Is it a spoiler to point out that the case is still unsolved?
Author Michael Crichton made his directorial debut with the 1972 TV movie Pursuit, about a terrorist plot to unleash nerve gas onto a political convention. Kino brings it to Blu-ray.
Warner Archive offers a complete collection of the 1964-65 kids’ adventure cartoon series Jonny Quest. Be advised that some of the show’s racial politics haven’t dated well. The set does not contain either the 1986 relaunch or the 1996 reboot.
My $.02
I have the Captain Marvel SteelBook on preorder at Best Buy. Because I didn’t buy either movie on Ultra HD previously, I might go for the Ghostbusters I & II SteelBook as well.
Swing Time will dance onto my Criterion wish list along with the Jonny Quest set.
Does anything look marvelous to you this week?
Csm101
I’ll probably pick up the regular uhd Captain Marvel. I’ve got the 3d one preordered. I own the first Ghostbusters on uhd but not the second one. This new steelbook is tempting me. My future wish list includes Frankenstein Created Woman, The Entity, Piranha.
Deaditelord
Ghostbusters and the Johnny Quest sets for me. Despite suffering from a major case of superhero movie fatigue, I’ll probably see Captain Marvel at some point.
Adam Tyner
The Captain Marvel 4K steelbook should be here any minute now (thanks, early Best Buy delivery!). That Ghostbusters double feature with all the new extras is high on my list, although I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
I would’ve bought Frankenstein Created Woman if I hadn’t been sent a copy to review.
I have Scream Factory’s Creepshow in today’s mail, and I’m thinking about grabbing the Ultra HD release of Pet Sematary, despite the backlog I have going.
Adam Tyner
I wound up pulling the trigger on Ghostbusters this morning, thanks to Barnes and Noble’s 40% off sale they have going, coupled with a 20% off coupon that wound up stacking.
Julian
“Amazon shows two new listings for The Godfather Trilogy this week. (…) The one called the Corleone Legacy Edition has a slightly nicer box and some art cards. Whether that’s worth paying extra for is up to you, when the original collection release is still available for less than either new set. ”
Reminds me of Josh’s excellent joke in an older Roundtable: “Other than the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, have the Godfather movies been reissued multiple times in Special Editions, Collector’s Editions, Ultimate Editions, Anniversary Editions, “Just When I Thought I Was Out” Editions, etc.?” (source: https://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/roundtable-most-copies-of-movie/)
Dave S.
‘DC did it two years ago’. Helen Slater would like you to know DC did it 35 years ago.
Josh Zyber
AuthorTouché. 🙂
Judas Cradle
“DC did it two years ago, and Marvel finally follows by releasing a superhero epic with a woman in the lead.”
Pretty sure there have been movies with female superhero leads over the years:
Barbarella, Tank Girl, Barb Wire, Black Scorpion, Catwoman, etc.
It’s hilarious that the “woke” don’t recognize history – and pretty funny when they think barriers and glass ceilings are being broke – when they happened decades ago.
Josh Zyber
AuthorOf those, only Catwoman had anything to do with either Marvel or DC, which is what I was talking about.
Barbarella, Tank Girl, Barb Wire… Not in any way considered superheroes. Black Scorpion? Man, you’re really straining to make a very weak and desperate point there. And for what purpose?
njscorpio
Plus, frankly, the genre we know of as “superhero epic” is a new beast, post-Iron Man. Comic book based movies didn’t have the support/funding/pressure to carry a studio back in the day like they do now. Casting a minority of any sort in the lead of one of these types of major investments is far different than in the times of Catwoman and Spawn.
Lord Bowler
I’ll be picking up ‘Captain Marvel’ in Steelbook to add to my Marvel collection.