From the Big Screen:

Moana 2

(2024) Sequel reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. Vitals: Director: David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller. Stars: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, Hualalai Chung. CC, MPAA rating: PG, 140 min., Family Adventure, Theatrical release date: November, 27, 2024, North American box office gross: $450.1 million, worldwide $1,026.8 million, Disney. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Full length sing-along; “Call of the Wayfinder” featurette; “A New Voyage” featurette; “Songs of the Sea” featurette; “Kakamora Chronicles”; “Fun in the Booth”; deleted scenes. Read more here.

Babygirl

(2024) A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern. Vitals: Director: Halina Reijn. Stars: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde, Jean Reno, John Cenatiempo, Anoop Desai, Victor Slezak.
CC, MPAA rating: R, 114 min., Drama, Theatrical release date: December 25, 2024, North American box office gross: $26.2 million, worldwide $34.8 million, A24. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, VOD, Digital. Extras: Commentary with writer-director Halina Reijn; “Directing Desire With Halina Reijn” featurette; “Power Looks: Dressing the cast of Babygirl” featurette featuring costume designers Kurt & Bart; deleted scenes; behind-the-scenes photography by Niko Tavernise. Read more here.

Wolf Man

(2025) Seeking a fresh start, Blake moves his wife Charlotte and daughter Ginger to his childhood home in rural Oregon. Upon arrival, they encounter a brutal animal attack, forcing the family to barricade themselves inside the house as an unseen creature prowls the perimeter. As the night wears on, Blake’s injuries worsen, and his bizarre behavior turns monstrous. To protect her daughter, Charlotte must decide whether to confront the danger outside or the growing horror within. Vitals: Director: Leigh Whannell. Stars: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Mathilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Ben Prendergast, Benedict Hardy. CC, MPAA rating: R, 103 min., Horror Thriller, Theatrical release date: January 17, 2025, North American box office gross: $19.103 million, worldwide $28.982 million, Studio Distribution Services. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, limited edition steelbook 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: “Unleashing A New Monster”; “Designing Wolf Man”; “Hands On Horror”; “Nightmares and Soundscapes”; feature commentary with director/co-writer Leigh Whannell. Read more here.

The Room Next Door

(2024) Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become a novelist while Martha became a war reporter. Separated by the circumstances of life and, after years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. Almodóvar’s English-language full-length debut, based on the novel “What Are You Going Through” by Sigrid Nunez. Vitals: Director: Pedro Almodóvar. Stars: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto. CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 105 min., Drama, Theatrical release date: December 20, 2024, North American box office gross: $2.287 million, worldwide $15.738 million, Sony. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. Read more here.

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This Week’s Highlights:

The ultimate predator just got smarter. From Renny Harlin, maximalist director of “Die Hard II,” “Cliffhanger” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” comes “Deep Blue Sea” (1999), a shark-infested action-thriller where everyone is on the menu. At an isolated research facility in the middle of the ocean, a team of scientists, led by Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows), are working on a cure for Alzheimer’s by genetically altering the brains of sharks.When a shark escapes and attacks a pleasure boat, the company sponsoring the research threatens to pull its funding and sends corporate executive Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate. McAlester has just 48 hours to prove the value of her work, but her experiments have made the sharks smarter. No longer happy to be injected, prodded, and caged, they begin to turn the tables. As a freak storm causes chaos on the surface, making it impossible to leave, the facility is flooded and the scientists must fight to survive against the rising water and the hungry sharks that now swim freely through the corridors. Embracing action, horror and suspense with a knowing sense of humor and pushing them all as far as they can go, “Deep Blue Sea” is an adrenaline rush of pure entertainment presented in a brand new 4K restoration approved by director Renny Harlin. On Blu-ray, 4K UHD, from Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment. Extras: Read more here. … Diving into delirious realms of imagination, “Godzilla vs. Biollante” (1989 — Japan), the second film of the Godzilla franchise’s 1980s resurgence, showcased the towering beast for a new generation of fans. This time, Godzilla’s foe is one of the series’ most wondrously strange kaiju creations: Biollante—a mutant plant genetically engineered from the cells of a rose, a renegade scientist’s dead daughter, and Godzilla itself. With a wild plot encompassing spies, psychic children, and bonkers biotechnology—and some of the coolest special effects in the history of Japanese cinema—”Godzilla vs. Biollante” stands as a high point in the ever-evolving mythology of the King of the Monsters. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. Extras: Read more here. From The Criterion Collection … Remarkable for its psychological nuance and its boldly modern perspective on an independent woman’s search for fulfillment, Charlie Chaplin’s long-overlooked silent masterpiece “A Woman of Paris” (1923) is a revelation. Chaplin confounded 1923 audiences with this unexpected foray into serious drama, and by ceding the spotlight to his longtime screen partner Edna Purviance. She is captivating as the vivacious Marie St. Clair, a “woman of fate” who leaves behind her small-minded village for the glamour of Paris, where she finds herself at the center of a Jazz Age whirl of champagne soirees, luxurious pleasure-seeking, romance, and tragedy. Putting aside his Little Tramp persona, Chaplin’s second feature proved that, beyond being a comic genius, he was an artist of immense sensitivity and human understanding. On Blu-ray, DVD with new 4K digital restoration of the 1976 rerelease version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack featuring a score composed by director Charlie Chaplin. Alternate score from 2005 created by conductor Timothy Brock, based on music by Chaplin, presented in uncompressed stereo. Extras: Read more here. From The Criterion Collection.

“Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

The fantasy-thriller “Warden” (2025), starring Giovanni de Lorenzi, Alli Willow, Brian Townes, Antonio Saboia and James Turpin, explores the real-world impact of an ordinary kid who discovers he has superpowers and decides he can save his ailing city and further impact the lives of those forever changed by the rise of the world’s first superhero. Presented in a faux documentary style, “Warden” connects the rise of superhero stories with their fantasies of solitary, righteous figures working outside the system to bring justice. It also examines how such characters might influence society. On DVD, VOD, Digital, from Freestyle Digital Media. Read more here … In “Gunner” (2024), starring Luke Hemsworth, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Baena, Maurice P. Kerr and Mykel Shannon Jenkins, while on a camping trip in order to reconnect with his kids, war veteran Colonel Lee Gunner must save his two sons from a gang of violent bikers when they’re kidnapped after accidentally stumbling upon to a massive drug operation. On DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital, from Greenfield Media.

Foreign Films:

After the sudden tragic loss of his daughter following an exorcism, a renowned heart surgeon refuses to face the reality that his child has died, despite declarations from medical examiners and even the priest who performed the expulsion in “Devil’s Stay” (2024 — South Korea), starring Park Shin-yang), Lee Min-ki and Lee Re. But as the funeral rites begin, mourners start witnessing unnerving changes to the girl’s body, leaving the priest to wonder whether something much more sinister — an evil more ancient than Catholicism itself — may once again be looming over them all. On DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital, from Well Go USA.

For the Family:

With over two hours of fun, little ones will love laughing along with their Sesame Street friends in “Elmo’s World: Elmo Loves to Giggle” (2025). This special collection includes 10 new-to-DVD stories from Elmo’s Wonderful World and appearances from comedians Ilana Glazer and Kate McKinnon, sharing jokes guaranteed to bring giggles to the whole family. In its 55th season, Sesame Street is the country’s longest-running children’s television program and has received more Emmy Awards than any other show in television. On DVD, VOD, Digital, from Shout! Kids/Sesame Workshop. Read more here.

From TV to Disc:

Meet Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy) from “Shameless: The Complete Series” (2011-21): proud, working-class patriarch to a motley brood of six smart, spirited and independent kids who, without him, would be … better off. In Frank’s booze-addled view, parenting just eats into his hard-earned bar-crawling time around Chicago – so he leaves it to eldest daughter Fionna (Emmy Rossum) to hold down the fort. Bearing the de facto parent badge/burden, she’s donned the proverbial apron and makes sure her younger siblings do their chores, keep a clean-ish home, and everyone (no matter how small) works to keep the house lights on, as well as food on the table. Brothers Lip (Jeremy Allen White), Ian (Cameron Monaghan), and Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) use their intellect to break every rule in the book to survive and make the bank, while younger sister Debbie (Emma Kenney) would sooner steal her share, and Toddle Liam, the youngest, is just happy to be along for the ride. The Gallaghers are irreverent, endearing, resilient – and they’re absolutely, wildly and unapologetically Shameless. Thirty-four disc set with all 134 episodes from 11 seasons. On DVD from Warners … “The Penguin: The Complete First Season” (2024) includes all eight episodes. Starring Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka The Penguin), the eight-episode HBO original limited series from DC Studios continues the epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with the global blockbuster “The Batman.” With the city in peril following the seawall’s collapse, Oswald “Oz” Cobb seeks to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone and finally give his mother Francis the life he’s always promised. But first, Oz must confront his enemies and his own demoralizing reputation as “The Penguin.” On DVD, Blu-ray, from HBO Home Video.

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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.