From the Big Screen:

Fast X

(2023) The tenth film in the Fast & Furious Saga launches the final chapter of one of cinema’s most storied and popular global franchises, now in its third decade and still going strong with the same core cast and characters as when it began. Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything—and everyone—that Dom loves, forever. In 2011’s “Fast Five,” Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante (Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price. Dante’s plot will scatter Dom’s family from Los Angeles to the catacombs of Rome, from Brazil to London and from Portugal to Antarctica. New allies will be forged and old enemies will resurface. But everything changes when Dom discovers that his own 8-year-old son (Leo Abelo Perry) is the ultimate target of Dante’s vengeance. Vitals: Director: Louis Leterrier. Stars: Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, Leo Abelo Perry, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, John Cena, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, Alan Richtson, Daniela Melchior, Rita Moreno. CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 141 min., Action, North American box office gross: $145.9 million, worldwide $704.7 million, Universal. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Gag reel, scene breakdowns, more. Read more here

This Week’s Highlight:

Unfolding in a series of eight mythic vignettes, “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams” (1990 — Japan) was inspired by the beloved director’s own nighttime visions, along with stories from Japanese folklore. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s imagination, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic apparitions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power-plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of creation, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (who is played by Martin Scorsese), “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams” is both a showcase for its maker’s artistry at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance. Formats: 4K UHD, with 4K digital restoration, supervised by cinematographer Shoji Ueda, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. Read more here. From The Criterion Collection.

Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival — yet criminally underseen for over three decades — “Chameleon Street” (1989), starring Timothy Alvaro, Renauld Bailleux and William Ballenger, recounts the improbable but true story of Michigan con man Douglas Street, the titular “chameleon” who successfully impersonated his way up the socioeconomic ladder by posing as a magazine reporter, an Ivy League student, a respected surgeon, and a corporate lawyer. Elevated by a dexterous performance and daring direction from multi-hyphenate actor-writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr., the film pins a lens on race, class and performance in American identity, which has lost none of its relevance. At once piercingly funny and aesthetically mischievous, “Chameleon Street” is a lost masterpiece of Black American cinema long overdue to take its rightful place in the independent film canon. Newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of Wendell B. Harris Jr. On Blu-ray. from Arbelos Films … In “Summoning the Spirit” (2023), starring Krystal Millie Valdes and Ernesto Reyes, a young couple decide to escape the hustle of the big city, purchasing a home in the remote forest. They have big plans for their new quiet life, only to find something much more sinister. The couple quickly realize that they are on the land of a cult, and the leader claims a telepathic connection to a legendary flesh-eating beast deep in the woods surrounding them. Carla and Dean are forced to uncover the terrifying truth of the cult’s prophecy. From Dark Star Pictures. Read more here … In “The Fear” (1966 — Greece), starring Elena Nathanail, Anestis Vlahos, Elli Fotiou and Mairi Hronopoulou, Anna, a young female student living in Athens, returns to her family’s large farm in the remote Greek countryside. She starts to feel the tensions that lie, repressed, under the apparently tranquil rural setting. Her father and mother are trapped in a loveless marriage and her half-brother, Anestis, seems even more of a brooding and dangerous figure than ever before. Anna’s only real friend is the mute servant girl, Hrysa, who many of the local villagers see as some kind of saint due to her alleged sightings of the Virgin Mary in the lonely corn fields that surround the farm. Hrysa disappears and is reported missing. Anna soon suspects her half-brother is responsible and has probably killed the girl. She starts to follow him, trying to trick him into a confession. Realizing that she might become his next victim, Anna starts to fear for her life. Confused and scared she accepts a marriage proposal from a local man. It’s at the wedding ceremony, with the whole village watching, that the truth finally emerges and the terrifying last act of this rural psycho drama is played out. On Blu-ray. from Mondo Macabro … “The Thing Behind the Door (La Chose derrière la porte)” (2023 — France), starring Séverine Ferrer, David Doukhan, Quentin Surtel, Yves Lecat and Fabien Jegoudez, is the story of Adèle, a young woman haunted by the death of her husband who was killed in a trench during World War I. Unable to accept the tragic loss, the young woman turns to black magic in the hopes of bringing her lover back. He comes back to haunt her in her dreams and asks to find an antique spell-book that holds the formula to bring him back to life. Summoning magic from the druids, combining the forces of nature with her own blood, Adèle is obsessed by the potential return of her beloved husband. She ignores, as she performs the supernatural ceremony, that she becomes The Chosen One of a very ancient lineage of vegetal incubi, craving to perpetuate their race. What she resuscitates is a terrifying, unstoppable, and indestructible creature. From Freestyle Digital Media … In “Wolfkin” (2022 — Luxembourg), starring Louise Manteau, Victor Dieu, Marja-Leena Junker and Jules Werner, single mother Elaine is disturbed by her son Martin’s aggressive behavior and sudden physical changes when she visits his late father’s estranged family in small-town Luxembourg – where a much darker secret lurks. When she realizes that Martin could become like them, Elaine is forced into a desperate fight for her son’s future. Read more here From Uncork’d Entertainment … Surely one of the weirdest “sex comedies” ever, “Ravishing Dany” (1972 — France), starring Sandra Julien, Jürgen Drews, Michel Paulin and Jacqueline Laurent, concerns Danielle (“Dany to my friends”), a freelance fashion model in early 1970s France, who wants to buy a car and so is saving the travel portion of her fee for that purpose. To get from gig to gig she hitchhikes. This puts her into numerous dangerous and bizarre situations, including being picked up by a hearse driver who wants to have sex with her underneath his hearse, as there’s a corpse in the back; an escaped loony who mistakes sheep for women; a horny Italian countess who’s looking for some kinky sex and flagellation; a hippy who sings rather than talks (and has a big surprise in store for Dany); a crucifix-obsessed butterfly collector; a Byzantine prince in a Rolls Royce; and more. On Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro… In “Night of the Executioner” (1992 — Spain), starring Paul Naschy, Manuel Zarzo, Paloma Cela, Sergio Molina and Jose Alvarez, Dr Hugo Arranz (Naschy) is commemorating his 50th birthday with his wife and daughter. As the celebrations reach their height, the family is terrorized by a gang of violent street thugs who have broken into their home. Initially the gang is after jewels and cash. But once they have their helpless victims tied up and defenseless, their thoughts turn to violence. They rape Arranz’s wife and daughter and then, annoyed by the doctor’s protests, they cut out his tongue and leave him for dead. Arranz survives the attack and recovers after a stay in hospital. Abandoning his medical practice, he seeks vengeance on the men and women who destroyed his life. He embarks on a strenuous course of physical training, involving knives, guns and punishing bouts of weight lifting. Finally, he is ready to go in pursuit of his prey. But to track them down, he must enter the sleazy underworld which his potential victims inhabit. On Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro … Neither a blackout nor a city curfew will stop young couple Juan and Mercedes from celebrating their new home in “Plan Sexenal” (2014 — Mexico), starring Edwarda Gurrola, Harold Torres and Noé Hernández. But when Mercedes discovers a stranger who claims to be the real Juan, an epic violent confrontation takes place, after which the new, more vigorous, Juan replaces the old, fulfilling a dark, perverse plan. Uncut 16mm post-apocalyptic masterpiece available on Blu-ray for the first time. On Blu-ray from Massacre Video.

Foreign Films:

After a deadly, long-dormant health condition surfaces during a mission, Joseon era’s most lethal assassin goes into hiding to seek a cure without revealing his identity in “Night of the Assassin” (2023 — South Korea), starring Shin Hyun-joon, Lee Mun-sik and Kim Min-kyung. But upon witnessing a ruthless campaign of terror against local villagers, the region’s deadliest killer comes out of retirement in order to exact his own brutal brand of vigilante justice. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Well Go USA … “The Broken Mirror / Unquiet Death” (1975 — France), starring Max von Sydow, Laure Dechasnel, Micheline Presle, François Arnal, Monique Fluzin and Claire Wauthion, includes two movies on one disk. In “The Broken Mirror (Trompe l’oeli),” Anne lives with her husband in Belgium where she works as a restorer of paintings. When she becomes pregnant, she finds herself remembering a picture she did some time ago and of which she has no memory, no recollection of what happened to it. It becomes her goal to discover and clarify the mystery behind this painting, at the same time she notices that a strange man is following all of her moves. In “Unquiet Death (La mort trouble),” three sisters visit their uncle in his island home. He dies suddenly and they find themselves alone with their late uncle’s manservant. Their relations reveal a dark side in all of them, and gender, racial, and class tensions lead to situations of humiliation, domination, sex, and death. A radical and challenging film, full of the revolutionary spirit of 1968. On Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro.

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.