Happy Holidays from OnVideo

 

From the Big Screen:

Joker: Folie À Deux

(2024) From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes “Joker: Folie À Deux,” the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning “Joker,” which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (“A Star Is Born”). “Joker: Folie À Deux” finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him. Vitals: Director: Todd Phillips. Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan. CC, MPAA rating: R, 138 min., Action Thriller, Theatrical release date: October 4, 2024, North American box office gross: $39.505 million, worldwide $116.5 million, Warner. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code Steelbook. Extras: TBA. Read more here.

Conclave

(2024) Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake–secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church. Vitals: Director: Edward Berger. Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow,Sergio Castellito, Isabella Rossellini. CC, MPAA rating: PG, 120 min., Action Thriller, Theatrical release date: October 25, 2024, North American box office gross: $29.3 million, worldwide $31.9 million, Universal. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: “Sequestered: Inside Conclave” behind-the-scenes featurette; commentary by director Edward Berger. Read more here.

Transformers One

(2024) The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. Vitals: Director: Josh Cooley. Stars: Voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree-Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Buscemi. CC, MPAA rating: PG, 104 min., Sci-Fi Fantasy, Theatrical release date: September 20, 2024, North American box office gross: $47.221 million, worldwide $97.021 million, Paramount.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, Steelbook 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Read more here.

Terrifier 3

(2024) After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe. Vitals: Director: Damien Leone. Stars: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Chris Jericho, Daniel Roebuck. \CC, MPAA rating: NR, 125 min., Horror, Theatrical release date: October 11, 2024, North American box office gross: $38.165 million, worldwide $44.851 million, Cinedigm. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, Steelbook 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo, VOD, Digital. Read more here.

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Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

In “The Apprentice” (2024), starring Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan and Catherine McNally, a young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protege—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Briarcliff … “Omni Loop” (2024), starring Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Hannah Pearl Utt, Chris Witaske, Carlos Jacott and Harris Yulin, is a Sci-Fi film that follows Zoya Lowe (Mary Louise Parker), a quantum physicist who finds herself in a time loop, with a black hole growing in her chest and only a week to live. But what the doctors and her family don’t know is that she has already lived this week before; so many times, in fact, that she doesn’t even know how long it’s been. Until one day Zoya meets a gifted student named Paula (Ayo Edebiri). Together they team up to save her life — and to unlock the mysteries of time travel. From Magnolia Pictures. Read more here … “Forever Mine” (2024), starring Brinna Kelly, Trevor Algatt, Anderson and Maxwell Manthe, Skyler Har, Leve Ross and Alex Sosin, is a stylish domestic thriller about what happens when the perfect prey turns out to be another predator. Vincent, a sadistic man, marries Erica, believing her to be the perfect victim for his cruel intentions. Unbeknownst to him, Erica is a black widow with a string of dead husbands behind her. On their wedding night, Erica reveals that she has already poisoned Vincent, turning his plans upside down. The story unfolds as a tense psychological battle, with Vincent and Erica locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse. From Freestyle Digital Media. Read more here … In “Absolution” (2024), starring Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman, Yolonda Ross, Frankie Shaw and Daniel Diemer, an aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children. He is determined to leave a positive legacy for his grandson, but the criminal underworld isn’t done with him and won’t loosen their grip willingly. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Foreign Films:

With “Eastern Condors” (1987 — Hong Kong), legendary actor-director Sammo Hung delivers a bazooka blast of pure adrenaline in this exemplar of Hong Kong action cinema at its most entertaining. Drawing inspiration from Hollywood war films like “The Dirty Dozen,” “Eastern Condors” follows a ragtag band of Asian American prisoners dropped into Vietnam on a secret suicide mission to prevent a cache of weapons from falling into the hands of the Viet Cong, who are more than ready for a fight. Propelled by a dynamic ensemble cast that includes the ever-charismatic Yuen Biao as a black-market trader and a superhuman Yuen Wah as a giggling martial-arts monster, this rip-roaring spectacle offers a nonstop barrage of turbocharged set pieces that defy death, logic, and gravity itself. 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. 2K digital restoration of the English-dubbed “export cut” of the film. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection. Read more here … In a secluded, snowy mountain village, widower and single father Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) leads a modest life gathering water, wood, and wild wasabi for a friend’s udon shop in “Evil Does Not Exist” (2023 — Japanese). Yet this peaceful existence is threatened when a pair of corporate reps (Ryuji Kosaka and Ayaka Shibutani) arrive to launch a glamping site, sparking resistance from community members who fear the project’s potentially pernicious impact on the environment. When Takumi — a respected local figure — is offered the conciliatory role of site caretaker, it becomes unclear where his loyalties lie. “Evil Does Not Exist,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s much-anticipated follow-up to his Academy Award–winning “Drive My Car,” is a haunting, suspenseful meditation on humankind’s thorny relationship with nature, consumerism, and itself. Inspired by a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, the director showcases his masterful command of pacing and atmosphere to uncover the destructive forces lurking beneath the thin veneer of civilization. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Janus Contemporaries). Read more here.

From TV to Disc:

From Paramount comes “Seal Team: The Final Season” (2024), a three-disc set with all 10 episodes. The series follows the professional and personal lives of the most elite unit of Navy SEALs, as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high stakes missions our country can ask of them. On DVD, Blu-ray … “Seal Team: The Complete Series” (2017-2024) is a 30-disc set with all 114 episodes across seven seasons, along with over 5 ½ hours of special features, including gag reels, delete scenes, featurettes and more. On DVD 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.