From the Big Screen:

The Blackening

(2023) Follows a group of Black friends reunited for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a masked killer who forces them to play a twisted board game by his rules, which they soon realize ain’t no motherf****** game. “The Blackening” skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: If the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first? Vitals: Director: Tim Story. Stars: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji. CC, MPAA rating: R, 96 min., Horror Comedy, North American box office gross: $17.015 million, worldwide $17.015 million, Lionsgate. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Audio commentary with director Tim Story and writers Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins; “Do the Write Thing”; “They Can’t All Talk First”; “Shall We Play a Game?”; “Cabin in the Woods”; “Who’s the Blackest? Game Show”; theatrical trailer; more. Read more here

You Hurt My Feelings

(2023) After overhearing her husband’s honest reaction to her latest book, a successful novelist finds her long-standing marriage in jeopardy. As she struggles to come to terms with his criticism, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her relationships. With the help of her friends and family, she must find a way to move on from this setback and rebuild her life. Vitals: Director: Nicole Holofcener. Stars: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, Jeannie Berlin, Amber Tamblyn, David Cross. CC, MPAA rating: R, 93 min., Comedy Drama, North American box office gross: $4.677 million, worldwide $5.283 million, A-24 Films/Lionsgate. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Audio commentary with writer/director Nicole Holofcener and actor/producer Julia Louis-Dreyfus; “Just Being Honest: Making You Hurt My Feelings.” Read more here

This Week’s Highlights:

“Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema:” Driven by a desire to forge a socially conscious Swedish cinema — one that broke with the inward-looking psychodrama of Ingmar Bergman to give dynamic expression to the everyday experiences of working-class Swedes — writer Bo Widerberg turned to filmmaking in the early 1960s, realizing his ambition in politically committed yet poetic works that merge social-realist themes with a refined, often breathtakingly beautiful visual sensibility. Dramatizing the struggles of ordinary people fighting to chart their own destiny, these four acclaimed, popular, and pivotal films from Widerberg’s most prolific period live and breathe with a rare vitality -— and helped launch a new Swedish cinema. “The Baby Carriage” (1963), “Raven’s End” (1963), “Elvira Madigan” (1967) And “Ådalen 31” (1969). On Blu-ray, with new restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks. From The Criterion Collection. Read more here … If you can’t get a date … make one! After proving himself the king of heartfelt teen flicks with “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club,” writer-director John Hughes infused the genre with a hefty dose of wacked-out sci-fi comedy in “Weird Science” (1985), a film where every teenage boy’s wildest fantasies come to life. Perennially picked-on high school nerds Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are sick of their status at the bottom of the social food chain. Using Wyatt’s computer, the two hatch a plan to create their dream woman – and following a massive power surge, that woman unexpectedly appears in the form of Lisa (Kelly LeBrock). Gorgeous, intelligent, and blessed with limitless magic powers, Lisa makes the boys’ dreams come true … but what about Wyatt’s gun-toting psycho older brother Chet (Bill Paxton), and the two bullies (Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Rusler) determined to put them back in their place? Inspired by EC Comics and boosted by a killer soundtrack (including the classic title theme by Oingo Boingo), “Weird Science” has never looked better than in this new 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray limited edition, including an extended version of the film and hours of bonus content. On 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. From Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment. Read more here.

Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

Boys will be boys in “Unman, Wittering and Zigo” (1971), a scathing psychological thriller set within the hidebound but testosterone-charged confines of a remote coastal British private school, produced by and starring David Hemmings. John Ebony (Hemmings) is the idealistic young schoolmaster who arrives at Chantrey School for Boys on his first assignment, employed to fill the shoes of his predecessor Pelham who has recently been found dead at the bottom of a nearby cliff. Taking up residence in a cottage in the school’s grounds with his restless young wife Sylvia (Carolyn Seymour), Ebony is eager to make a good impression, but immediately gets off on the wrong foot with his assigned pupils, discovering the boys of class Lower 5B, minus the perpetually absent Zigo, to be unruly and defiant. However, they might possibly know more about Pelham’s demise than the school’s headmaster and his fellow staff are letting on. Masterfully shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) and directed by John Mackenzie (“The Long Good Friday”), this film adaptation of Giles Cooper’s classic play is presented on home video for the first time ever. “Unman, Wittering and Zigo” presents a scathing exposé of the kind of environment from which brutish empires are born. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment. Read more here.

Foreign Films:

In “A Moment of Romance” (1990 — Hong Kong), small-time hood Wah Dee (Andy Lau) is enlisted by Triad boss Trumpet (Tommy Wong) as a getaway driver for a daring heist that goes wrong. Thinking fast Dee takes Jo Jo (Jacklyn Chien-Lien Wu) hostage to save his skin, but the bosses order her to be killed. They escape and begin a forbidden relationship while being chased by both sides of the law. Produced by Johnnie To and Ringo Lam the film is sensationally directed by Benny Chan in his feature debut. With a breakneck pace and violence reminiscent of To and Takashi Miike and the beautiful and emotive sensibility of Wong Kar-wai, the film features stunning performances from Lau, and Wu in her debut work. “A Moment of Romance” is a classic of Hong Kong cinema that has been much imitated but rarely bettered. 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative. On Blu-ray from Radiance.

From TV to Disc:

“NCIS: The 20th Season” (2022-23) is a six-disc set with all 22 episodes. Following the cliffhanger Season 19 finale, with Special Agent Alden Parker still on the run with his ex-wife Vivian, the team investigates who from his past might have a personal vendetta against him in hopes of clearing Parker’s name. From Paramount.

All DVDs and Blu-rays are screened on a reference system consisting of an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio, a Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center), and 50 (rear) speakers, and Power 10 subwoofer.