From the Big Screen:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

(2023) Super Heroes Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and The Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible. Vitals: Director: Peyton Reed. Stars: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray. CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 125 min., Action Comedy, North American box office gross: $212.557 million, worldwide $473.453 million, Marvel Studios/Disney. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Gag reel; audio commentary by director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness; “All in the Family” featurette; “Formidable Foes” featurette; deleted scenes. Read more here

Moving On

(2023) In this revenge comedy, Claire (Jane Fonda) and Evelyn (Lily Tomlin) are estranged friends who reunite to get even with Howard (Malcolm McDowell), the petulant widower of their recently deceased best friend. Along the way, Claire reunites with Ralph (Richard Roundtree), her great love from her younger years, as each woman must make peace with her past and learn to treasure the value of a good friend. Vitals: Director: Paul Weitz. Stars: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Malcolm McDowell, Sarah Burns, Richard Roundtree. CC, MPAA rating: R, 85 min., Comedy, North American box office gross: $2.097 million, worldwide $2.097 million, Lionsgate. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. Extras: Photo gallery. Read more here

This Week’s Highlights:

“In the Line of Duty I – IV” is a four-disc set of the legendary series starring Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock and Donnie Yen. These four classic police stories from the Golden Age of Hong Kong action broke new ground showing women kicking butt as hard as any man. Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock and Cynthia Kahn star as the toughest cops on the streets, using fists, feet and guns to take down triads, thieves and international criminals. Easily the equal of any American action movies from the same era, the “In the Line of Duty” series are enduring proof of the genius (and recklessness) of Hong Kong filmmakers. 2K restorations of all four films: “Royal Warriors” (1986), “Yes, Madam!” (1985), “In the Line of Duty III” (1988) and “In the Line of Duty IV” (1989). On Blu-ray from 88 Films. Read more here … Legendary genre auteur Hideo Gosha’s gleefully anarchic, spaghetti western-informed samurai adventures “Samurai Wolf 1 & Samurai Wolf 2: Hell Cut” are finally available to North American audiences in one complete set. “Samurai Wolf” (1966 — Japan): Isao Natsuyagi stars as Kiba, a charismatic ronin who wanders into a small town and ends up ensnared in a local conflict that’s more than meets the eye. After dispatching a pair of highway criminals seen robbing a courier wagon, Kiba agrees to assist a beautiful blind woman who runs the local shipping company. Double- and triple-crosses ensue, illustrated with savage but economical violence courtesy of famed director Hideo Gosha’s striking black and white filmmaking. The result is a lean and mean triumph of samurai cinema, cementing Gosha’s status as a master of the genre. “Samurai Wolf 2: Hell Cut” (1967 — Japan): Charismatic ronin Kiba (Isao Natsuyagi) returns, once again entangled in a complex web of intrigue, involving a crooked goldmine owner, a cynical swordsman, and an arrogant dojo master. Master filmmaker Hideo Gosha brings his trademark tight pacing and stylish action to this brisk morality play, inevitably punctuated by the explosions of violent swordplay beloved by fans of the genre.On DVD, Blu-ray, from Film Movement Classics … Old Hollywood collides with New Hollywood, and screen horror with real-life horror, in “Targets” (1968), the startling debut feature from Peter Bogdanovich. Produced by Roger Corman, this chillingly prescient vision of American-made carnage casts Boris Karloff as a version of himself: an aging horror-movie icon whose fate intersects with that of a seemingly ordinary young man (Tim O’Kelly) on a psychotic shooting spree around Los Angeles. Charged with provocative ideas about the relationship between mass media and mass violence, “Targets” is a model of maximally effective filmmaking on a minimal budget and a potent first statement from one of the defining voices of the American New Wave. On DVD, Blu-ray, with new 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Peter Bogdanovich, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. From The Criterion Collection. Extras: Read more here.

Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

In “Sweetheart” (2021 — UK), starring Nell Barlow, Jo Hartley, Ella-Rae Smith and Sophia Di Martino, socially awkward lesbian teenager AJ begrudgingly joins her family on a seaside vacation. She finds herself constantly at odds with her painfully “normal” mother and older sister, neither of whom can understand why she doesn’t smile more or “dress like a girl.” Her anticipated “week of hell” takes an unexpected turn when Isla, a free-spirited and sun-loving lifeguard, catches her eye. Full to the brim with teen angst and romantic fumbling, the film wryly captures the bittersweet pangs of adolescent yearning, self-realization and personal connections, all against the hilarious ups and downs of the quintessential British family holiday. From Film Movement … In “One Day as a Lion” (2023), starring Scott Caan, Frank Grillo, Marianne Rendón, Taryn Manning, George Carroll, Virginia Madsen and J.K. Simmons, Jackie Powers (Caan) is a nice guy but a lousy hit man, and when he’s sent to take out a crafty debtor (Simmons), Jackie only pisses him off. Fleeing the scene, Jackie takes bored waitress Lola as a hostage. When Jackie reveals he needs money to get his son out of jail, Lola cooks up a scheme for them to get cash from her dying mother (Madsen). Meanwhile, a thug sent to kill him is sleeping with Jackie’s ex. From Lionsgate … When power crazed drug lord Raul Guzman (Rodrigo Obregón) moves in on the mafia L.A. cocaine trade and steals the mob boss Carlo Giovani’s (A.J. Stephans) money and drugs, the streets explode in violence in “L.A. Wars [Collector’s Edition]” (1994). Featuring Vince Murdoco as undercover cop, Jake Quinn, he infiltrates the mafia as the bodyguard for Giovani’s beautiful daughter, Carla (Mary E. Zilba). Jake must use his martial arts and all the weaponry he can carry to defend Carla from Guzman’s hit men. Giovani’s ruthless right hand man Vinny (Johnny Venokur) betrays him and tries to assault Carla but is stopped by Quinn. Vinny is humiliated and booted from the family. He then teams up with Guzman to seek revenge on Giovani. In a final showdown, Quinn must stop Vinny in his rampage for revenge and power. On Blu-ray from MVD Rewind Collection … British intelligence meets Texas justice in the action-thriller “One Ranger” (2022), starring Thomas Jane, Dean Jagger, Dominique Tipper, Jess Liaudin, Rachel Wilde, Nick Moran and John Malkovich. A gunslinging Texas Ranger (Jane) tracks a bank robber (Jagger) across the desert — only to discover he’s an international terrorist set on detonating a bomb in the heart of London. When the lawman’s partner is killed, he is drawn into a partnership with a British intelligence agent (Tipper) and her boss (Malkovich) to bring the outlaw to justice — dead or alive. On DVD, Blu-ray from Lionsgate.

Foreign:

When he falls for the beautiful wife of the jailed boss of the Nishida gang, things start to spiral out of control for detective Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari) in “Yakuza Graveyard (Limited Edition)” (1978 — Japan). In a world where the line between police and organized crime is vague, he finds himself on the wrong side of a yakuza war when his superiors favor Nishida’s rivals, the Yamashiro gang. Co-starring the iconic Meiko Kaji and featuring Nagisa Oshima as chief of police, “Yakuza Graveyard” sees director Kinji Fukasaku (“Battles without Honour and Humanity”) at the peak of his powers. On Blu-ray from Radiance … In famed director François Ozon’s “Everything Went Fine” (2023 — France), starring André Dussollier, Sophie Marceau and Charlotte Rampling, when André (Dussollier) suffers a debilitating stroke and calls on his daughter Emmanuèle (Marceau) to help him die with dignity, she finds herself faced with a painful decision. Based on Emmanuèle Bernheim’s memoir and an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, “Everything Went Fine’s” matter-of-factness elicits moments of humor that renders an otherwise weighty topic accessible. Steering clear of the moral arguments such issues often raise, the film instead focuses on the reckoning Emmanuéle has with her stubborn and unrelenting father and how to help him, with Ozon tackling a difficult subject with exceptional intelligence and sensitivity. On DVD, Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group … After brandishing his gun and badge too many times in front of powerful people, Maurizio Merli is busted down from Homicide to Emergency Squad in “Convoy Busters” (1978 — Italy). Despite his demotion, he is not content with letting Rome’s criminal element run rampant and his violent nature soon finds him the target of both the press and the local mob. After a bloody attempt on his life, he is transferred to a quiet coastal town to run a local department but, never one to leave things alone, he quickly finds a dangerous smuggling ring is using the cover of the sea and darkness to run their operations in his sleepy district. With it’s daring stunt work, violent shoot-outs, and split storyline, “Convoy Busters” ranks highly among the 70s Italian Crime Genre. Italian audio w/ English subtitles and English dubbed. On Blu-ray from Cauldron Films … Meet “Shabu” (2021 — Netherlands), a 14-year-old Dutch-Surinamese aspiring rapper from The Paperclip, an innercity apartment complex in one of Rotterdam’s most notorious neighborhoods. Shabu has big dreams but even bigger problems. He’s just totaled his grandmother’s car and desperately needs to raise some cash before the end of the summer in order to pay her back. Utilizing his musical talent and street smarts, Shabu concocts a plan to both make the money and make his family proud in this crowd-pleasing documentary that culminates in a rousingly raucous finale.On DVD, from Indiepix Films … “The Magic Flute” (2022 — Germany), starring Jack Wolfe, F. Murray Abraham and Iwan Rheon, follows 17-year-old Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” On DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, from Shout! Factory … In “Shanghai Joe” (1973 — Italy), Chin Hao (Chen Lee/Myoshin Hayakawa) arrives in America looking for a better life, only to be faced with locals that don’t take kindly to outsiders. Much to their surprise, Chin is not your average drifter as he rips his way through racist bad guys with his unstoppable fighting techniques. After word of his skills spreads, he gets a job at a ranch only to find that the owner, Stanley Spencer, is a cattle smuggling slave trader who brutalizes Mexican farmers and anyone else who dares get in his way. Chin ramps up the violence as he stops at nothing to free the slaves and enact revenge on the sadistic Spencer. Features a rogues’ gallery of genre legends such as Klaus Kinski, Gordon Mitchell, Robert Hundar, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Carla Romanelli, Piero Lulli, and Katsutoshi Mikuriya. Italian audio w/ English subtitles and English-dubbed. On Blu-ray from Cauldron Films … In “Young Ip Man” (2020 — China), starring Zhao Wenhao, Mou Fengbin, Li Haoxuan, Shao Xia, Shi Yuqing, Tong Xiaohu and Xi Erzhati, after an escaped convict infiltrates his school and holds all the students for ransom, a young Ip Man confronts the kidnappers head on. However, he soon finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy involving local authorities as well as some of the last people he would ever have expected to be part of the heinous plot. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Well Go USA.

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.