New DVD and Blu-ray Releases for the Week of January 2
Happy NEW YEAR
From the Big Screen:
The Holdovers
(2023) Follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Vitals: Director: Alexander Payne. Stars: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa. CC, MPAA rating: R, 133 min., Comedy Drama, North American box office gross: $18.261 million, worldwide $19.053 million, Universal. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Alternate ending; deleted scenes; introduction by Alexander Payne; “The Cast of The Holdovers”; “Working with Alexander.” 
Read more here.
This Week’s Best Bet
A breathtaking milestone that brought India into the golden age of international art-house film, Satyajit Ray’s “The Apu Trilogy” (1956-59) follows one indelible character, a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and, finally, a sensitive man of the world. Ray’s delicate masterworks — “Pather Panchali (Song of the Little 
Road),” “Aparajito (The Unvanquished),” and “Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)” — based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, were shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. These films — which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire — are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made. In a 4K UHD + Blu-ray special edition featuring three 4K UHD discs of the films and three Blu-rays with the films and special features. 4K digital restorations of all three films, undertaken in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and L’Immagine Ritrovata, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks. From The Criterion Collection. Read more here.
Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:
“The Marsh King’s Daughter” (2022), starring Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, Caren Pistorius, Brooklynn Prince and Gil Birmingham, is based on the bestselling novel by Karen Dionne. In this thriller, a woman with a secret past ventures into the wilderness she left behind to confront the most dangerous man she’s ever met: her father. Helena’s (Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena has to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her family, Helena must find the strength to face her demons and outmaneuver the man who taught her everything she knows about surviving in the wild. In a Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Lionsgate.
Foreign Films:
In “The Facts of Murder” (1959 — Italy), starring Pietro Germi, Claudia Cardinale, Claudio Gora, Franco Fabrizi and Cristina Gaioni, Inspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realizes something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a 
simple robbery leads to a murder case … Directed by and starring Petro Germi (“The Railroad Man”) as the growling Inspector, “The Facts of Murder” was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda’s novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale and Claudio Gora (“Il sorpasso”), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film. New 4K restoration of the film by L’Immagine Ritrovata at the Cineteca di Bologna, world premiere on High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) with uncompressed mono PCM audio. From Radiance/MVD Entertainment.
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.
