Posted Fri Mar 15, 2024 at 12:45 PM PDT by Tom Landy
The Criterion Collection's June release slate includes 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrades of David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Lana and Lilly Wachowski's Bound on both Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray; and Blu-ray editions of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle, Emilio Fernández's Victims of Sin, and the limited-series The Underground Railroad from Barry Jenkins.
It's that time of the month again - Criterion announcements! We have an interesting batch this time with two 4K upgrades, one title hitting both formats, and a few more Blu-rays including a limited series - The Underground Railroad. Which ones will you be adding to your library?
On June 4, Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will receive a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray upgrade.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
It is 1971, and journalist Raoul Duke barrels toward Las Vegas—accompanied by a trunkful of contraband and his slightly unhinged Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo—to cover a motorcycle race. What should be a cut-and-dried journalistic assignment quickly descends into a feverish psychedelic odyssey. Director Terry Gilliam and an all-star cast, headlined by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, show no mercy in bringing Hunter S. Thompson’s excoriating dissection of the American way of life to the screen, creating a film both hilarious and savage
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Arriving on June 11 comes Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle to Blu-ray.
Querelle - The Criterion Collection
Conjured from the unholy meeting of two iconoclastic queer artists, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film audaciously raises Jean Genet’s controversial novel to the level of myth. In an expressionistic soundstage vision of a French seaport town—bathed in fiery reds and complete with phallic spires—a strapping sailor and unrepentant criminal (Brad Davis) comes ashore to arouse passion, rivalry, and violence among the libidinal denizens drawn into his orbit. Enacted with dreamlike stylization by a cast of international stars, including Jeanne Moreau and Franco Nero, Querelle finds Fassbinder pushing his taboo-shattering depiction of gay desire to delirious extremes.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Next on June 18, Emilio Fernández's Victims of Sin will arrive in stores on Blu-ray.
Victims of Sin - The Criterion Collection
A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevilla. She brings fierce charisma and fiery strength to her role as a rumbera—a female nightclub dancer—who gives up everything to raise an abandoned boy, whom she must protect from his ruthless gangster father. Directed at a dizzying pace by filmmaking titan Emilio Fernández, and shot in stylish chiaroscuro by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa amid smoky dance halls and atmospherically seedy underworld haunts, Victims of Sin is a ferociously entertaining female-powered noir pulsing with the intoxicating rhythms of some of Latin America’s most legendary musical stars.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Lana and Lilly Wachowski's Bound will arrive on both 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray on June 18.
Bound - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Before they blew the world’s mind with The Matrix, Lana and Lilly Wachowski delivered a jolt of pure pulp pleasure with their hyperstylish debut, which puts a deliciously sapphic spin on a crackerjack caper premise. When butch plumber Corky (Gina Gershon) catches the eye of alluring femme (fatale) Violet (Jennifer Tilly), little does she know she’s about to be drawn into both a torrid affair and a high-stakes heist that will pit the pair against the mob. With crackling dialogue, luscious neonoir cinematography, and live-wire performances by Gershon, Tilly, and Joe Pantoliano, Bound is a genre-reimagining joyride that keeps both the tension and the erotic heat rising through each crazily careening twist.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
David Lynch's Blue Velvet will be getting its long-awaited 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade on June 25.
Blue Velvet - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, writer-director David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their person of interest, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)—and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the late twentieth century.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
And finally, June 25 will also bring Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad to Blu-ray.
The Underground Railroad - The Criterion Collection
A monumental reimagining of American history, Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 2016 novel is a harrowing and rhapsodic journey through a still-echoing past. Weaving together historical fiction with moments of magical realism, The Underground Railroad is a full sensory immersion into the world of Cora (Thuso Mbedu), who, fleeing slavery, embarks on a treacherous quest for freedom—and is menaced by violence, supported by a clandestine community fighting for liberation, and haunted by the people she loses along the way. With images of searing power and stirring poetry, Jenkins delivers an epic saga of survival and resilience that pushes the limited-series format to new heights of cinematic transcendence.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED FOUR-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Pre-orders for The Criterion Collection's June releases should be available soon
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