(2024) Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner is an audacious, thrilling, and comedic variation on a modern day Cinderella story. Mikey Madison captivates as Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the impetuous son of a Russian billionaire. However, when Vanya’s parents catch wind of the union, they send their henchmen to annul the marriage, setting off a wild chase through the streets of New York. Vitals: Director: Sean Baker. Stars: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov.
CC, MPAA rating: R, 139 min., Drama, Theatrical release date: October 18, 2024, North American box office gross: $15.204 million, worldwide $33.182 million, Neon/The Criterion Collection.Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. Read more here.
Paddington in Peru
(2025) Full of Paddington’s signature blend of wit, charm, and laugh-out-loud humor, Paddington in Peru finds the beloved, marmalade-loving bear lost in the jungle on an exciting, high-stakes adventure. When Paddington discovers his beloved Aunt Lucy has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears, he and the Brown family head to the wilds of Peru to look for her, the only clue to her whereabouts a spot marked on an enigmatic map. Determined to solve the mystery, Paddington embarks on a thrilling quest through the rainforests of the Amazon to find his aunt ... and may also uncover one of the world’s most legendary treasures. Vitals: Director: Dougal Wilson. Stars: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent.
CC, MPAA rating: PG, 106 min., Family Adventure, Theatrical release date: February 14, 2025, North American box office gross: $43.6 million, worldwide $190.0 million, Sony.Formats: DVD + Digital Code, Blu-ray + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: "Create your own Adventure Map"; "Create your own Friendship Bracelet"; “Let’s Prepare For Paddington" sing-along; "The Making of Paddington In Peru"; "Set Tour: The Browns’ House"; "Set Tour: The Home for Retired Bears." Read more here.
Last Breath
(2025) A heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Based on a true story, “Last Breath” is an electrifying story about teamwork, resilience, and a race against time to do the impossible. Vitals: Director: Alex Parkinson. Stars: Woody Harrelson, Finn Cole, Simu Liu, Cliff Curtis.
CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 95 min., Action Thriller, Theatrical release date: February 28, 2025, North American box office gross: $14.6 million, worldwide $14.9 million, Universal.Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, VOD, Digital.
Read more here.
Plane
(2023) Re-issue. Pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island — only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning. When most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels, the only person Torrance can count on for help is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer who was being transported by the FBI. In order to rescue the passengers, Torrance will need Gaspare’s help and will learn there’s more to Gaspare than meets the eye. Vitals: Director: Jean-François Richet. Stars: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Tony Goldwyn. CC, MPAA rating:R, 107 min., Action Thriller, Theatrical release date: January 13, 2023, North American box office gross: $32.111 million, worldwide $74.515 million, Lionsgate.Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD + Digital Code Steelbook, VOD, Digital. Extras: "This Is Your Captain"; "Plane Clothes"; "Brace for Turbulence"; theatrical trailer. Read more here.
Top Disc Releases Next Week
•In the Heat of the Night (Criterion) •The Seed of the Sacred Fig •The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964 -- France) (Criterion)
Being Maria: Maria Schneider's rise to fame after "Last Tango in Paris" and its controversial production's impact on her life and career. (Digital sales, VOD; DVD, Blu-ray release: Day & date))
Big Freaking Rat: A Ranger is preparing to open a brand-new campground for the season. Everything is in order and the camp seems peaceful until a giant rat, mutated from multiple dumping of toxic wastes, begins killing the campers and rangers. (Digital sales, VOD only)
The Clouds: Hunted by a relentless judge, one gang leader must escape his fate or pay for his crimes in this Argentinean thriller (Digital sales, VOD only)
The End: From Academy Award-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer ("The Act of Killing," "The Look of Silence") comes a poignant and deeply human musical about a family that survived the end of the world. (Hulu)
Death of a Unicorn: A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature's miraculous curative properties. (Digital sales, VOD only)
Drop: A widowed mother's first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she's bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date is behind the harassment. (Digital sales, VOD only)
The Friend: When a solitary writer adopts and bonds with a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend, she begins to come to terms with her past and her own creative inner life. (Digital sales, VOD only)
In Camera: Satirical drama follows Aden, a young actor who is in a cycle of nightmarish auditions. After he receives multiple rejections, Aden takes it upon himself to find a new part to play. (Digital sales, VOD only)
Jackknife: A fun afternoon of fishing turns frightening when a young black brother and sister are attacked in the woods by a drifter. While fighting him off, the brother accidentally kills their would-be molester with a jackknife. (Digital sales, VOD only)
Jess Plus None: A reluctant maid-of-honor attending an off-the-grid wedding in the woods must confront her perfect ex-girlfriend, her more successful college friends, and every single one of her life choices. (Digital sales, VOD; DVD release: Day & date)
Nickel Boys: The story follows two African-American boys, Elwood (Herisse) and Turner (Wilson), who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the Dozier School for Boys, a now-closed Florida reform school notorious for its abusive treatment of students. (Prime Video)
The Penguin Lessons:A disillusioned Englishman who goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976 finds his life transformed when he rescues an orphaned penguin from the beach. (Digital sales, VOD only)
Sacramento: An energetic and free-spirited young man convinces his long-time friend, who's settled into domestic life, to go on an impromptu road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento. (Digital sales, VOD only)
May 1
Another Simple Favor: Sequel to 2018’s "A Simple Favor." Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) travel to Capri, Italy for Emily’s wedding to a rich Italian businessman where “murder and betrayal” occur. (Prime Video)
May 2
Black Bag: When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband - also a legendary agent - faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country. (Peacock; DVD, Blu-ray release: May 13)
Rust: In the Western set in 1880s Wyoming, Baldwin, 67, plays Harland Rust, an outlaw who comes out of hiding to save his 13-year-old grandson (Patrick Scott McDermott) after the boy is sentenced to hang for accidentally killing a rancher. (Digital sales, VOD only)
(1995 -- Hong Kong) The only collaboration between action master Ringo Lam and Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau, "The Adventurers" is an explosive story of heroic bloodshed featuring Rosamund Kwan, David Chiang and Victor Wong. Wai Lok-yan (Lau) was just eight years old when his parents were killed before his eyes in Cambodia, where his father had been working for the CIA during Pol Pot’s ascent to power in the latter days of the Cambodian Civil War. Taken to Thailand by his father’s colleague Seung (Chiang), Yan grows up to join the Thai Air Force and comes to discover that his father’s murderer – Ray Liu (Paul Chun), once a double agent – has now become a wealthy arms dealer based in the United States. With the help of the CIA, Yan intends to get close to Liu and have his revenge by taking on an assumed identity and gaining the trust of Liu’s daughter, Crystal (Jacklyn Wu) – but first he will need to go undercover in San Francisco’s criminal underworld to rescue her from the clutches of the Vietnamese Black Tiger Gang. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: New audio commentary by film critic David West; "Two Adventurers" interview with Gary Bettinson, editor of Asian Cinema journal; previously unseen archival interview with writer and producer Sandy Shaw; theatrical trailer; limited edition collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Hong Kong cinema scholar Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park. (Eureka! Entertainment/MVD Entertainment).
Anora
(2024) Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov. A young sex worker from Brooklyn gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out to get the marriage annulled.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, VOD, Digital. (Neon/The Criterion Collection). Read more here.
Basquiat
(1996) Julian Schnabel’s tribute to his friend and fellow painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is less a conventional biopic than an impressionistic, sensory immersion into the much-mythologized downtown-Manhattan art world of the 1980s. Jeffrey Wright, in his first lead film role, stars as the visionary artist whose rise from graffiti tagger to art star forces him to confront the glare of sudden fame, along with racism, his own struggles with addiction, and the difficulties of being self-determining and free in America. Bolstered by an ensemble cast that includes a sublime performance by David Bowie channeling Andy Warhol, Schnabel’s directorial debut -- presented here in the filmmaker’s own luminous black-and-white remastering -- is a profoundly expressive elegy for a radiant life cut short. Formats: 4K UHD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration of the 2024 black-and-white version, supervised and approved by director Julian Schnabel, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the 2024 black-and-white version of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. Extras:Read more here. (The Criterion Collection).
Girl With a Suitcase
(1961 -- Italy) Aida (Claudia Cardinale, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Day of the Owl) has fallen for a rich playboy and arrives at his door to find it firmly shut and herself ignored. His younger, more sensitive brother, Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin, Cinema Paradiso) helps her and finds himself quickly besotted. Cardinale gives one of her most tender and vulnerable performances in Girl with a Suitcase, an unsentimental coming-of-age story that deals as much with adolescence as class. A vital director of Italy's post-war cinema, Valerio Zurlini's small but remarkable body of work deserves to be discussed among the greats. 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative by the Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Camelia and Titanus. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Interview with assistant director Piero Schivazappa; interview with screenwriter Piero De Bernard; interview with film critic Bruno Torri on Zurlini’s career; visual essay about the film by Kat Ellinger; trailer; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista; limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Giuliana Minghelli. (Radiance/MVD Entertainment).
Last Breath
(2025) Woody Harrelson, Finn Cole, Simu Liu, Cliff Curtis. A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. (Universal). Read more here.
The Magnificent Chang Cheh
One of the Shaw Brothers Studio’s most prolific directors, Chang Cheh – or the “Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema” – is the filmmaker behind "Five Deadly Venoms," "Chinatown Kid," and "Boxer Rebellion." Collected here are two films by this maestro of martial arts cinema that showcase his considerable talents at both ends of his career: "The Magnificent Trio" (1966) produced when wuxia films ruled the Hong Kong box office in the mid-1960s, and "Magnificent Wanderers" (1977) made at the height of the kung fu craze at the end of the 1970s. In an early role that pre-dates his star-making turn in Chang’s "The One-Armed Swordsman," Jimmy Wang Yu stars in "The Magnificent Trio" as swordsman Lu Fang, who – along with fellow warriors Yen Tzu-ching (Lo Lieh) and Huang Liang (Cheng Lui) – lends his martial arts prowess to a group of oppressed farmers when they kidnap the daughter of their local magistrate. Then, in the kung fu comedy "Magnificent Wanderers," the three nomads Lin Shao You (Fu Sheng), Shi Da Yong (Chi Kuan-chun), and Guan Fei (Li Yi-min) attempt to join Chinese patriots in their struggle against invading Mongol armies with the help of the wealthy Chu Tie Xia (David Chiang). Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: New audio commentary on "The Magnificent Trio" by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth; new audio commentary on "Magnificent Wanderers" by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema; "Chang Cheh Style" new video essay by Gary Bettinson, editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema journal; limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Chang Cheh by writer and critic James Oliver. (Eureka! Entertainment/MVD Entertainment).
Paddington in Peru
(2025) Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters, Jim Boadbent. Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey.
Formats: DVD + Digital Code, Blu-ray + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: "Create your own Adventure Map"; "Create your own Friendship Bracelet"; “Let’s Prepare For Paddington" sing-along; "The Making of Paddington In Peru"; "Set Tour: The Browns’ House"; "Set Tour: The Home for Retired Bears." (Sony). Read more here.
A Place Further Than the Universe
(2018) Thirteen episodes. Follows the journey of four girls in their travels to Antartica and is directed by Atsuko Ishizika, with script and series composition by Jukki Hanada. The lauded original anime drama won the hearts of coming-of-age enthusiasts, as well as the 2019 Anime Trending award for Anime of the Year. Scenery that we have never seen. Sounds that we have never heard. Scent that we have never smelled. Food that we have never tasted. And the surge of emotion that we have never experienced. This is the expedition of recollecting the pieces torn apart and sensation left alone. When we reach that place, what will we think? Howling, 40 degree angle. Raging, 50 degree angle. Shouting, 60 degree angle. A wilderness beyond the heavy sea. The furthest south, far from civilization. At the top of the Earth. We will find lights through the girls’ eyes to live tomorrow. Includes both the Japanese version and the English dub. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: “Making of the English dub” featurette; opening sequence; closing sequenc. (Anime Limited/Shout! Studios).
Plane
(2023) Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Tony Goldwyn. A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray + Digital Code, 4K Ultra HD + Digital Code Steelbook, VOD, Digital. Extras: "This Is Your Captain"; "Plane Clothes"; "Brace for Turbulence"; theatrical trailer. (Lionsgate). Read more here.
Prince of Broadway
(2008) A raw, disarmingly moving slice of neorealism, this early-career triumph from DIY auteur Sean Baker plunges into the world of West African immigrant Lucky (Prince Adu) and his Armenian Lebanese boss Levon (Karren Karagulian), two unlikely friends who peddle knockoff designer goods in Manhattan’s wholesale district. When a long-forgotten ex forces him to take care of a young son he didn’t even know he had, Lucky must figure out how to become a father without losing his edge in the counterfeit-merch game. Capturing the chaos of urban life through expressive handheld camera work, remarkably naturalistic performances, and flashes of manic humor, "Prince of Broadway" is one of Baker’s most vivid explorations of the illusory nature of the American dream.
Formats: Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Sean Baker and restoration supervisor Alex Coco, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Extras:Read more here. (The Criterion Collection).
Rick and Morty: The Anime
(2024) The Rick and Morty universe is expanded with the all-new Japanese adult anime sci-fi television series from visionary director Takashi Sano. The 10-episode series follows Rick, Morty and the rest of the Smith family in a new intergalactic adventure. From the world of “Rick and Morty,” Rick relaxes in a pseudo-world between multiverses, Summer helps Space Beth fight the evil Galactic Federation, and Morty falls in love with a mysterious girl who happens to be an atemporal being. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray. (Warner).
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
(1977 -- Japan) The editor of a sports magazine grooms fashion model Reiko to become a pro golfer, while retaining exclusive rights to her likeness. Reiko's popularity soars after she wins her first tournament and she becomes a media sensation, but when she and her manager (Yoshio Harada, Zigeunerweisen) cause a hit-and-run accident, the victim begins to blackmail Reiko, intruding further and further into her personal life. This was Seijun Suzuki's comeback film after being blacklisted by the film industry for ten years. Though adapted from a popular manga, the bold visuals and absurdist plot twists are vintage Suzuki. Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Audio commentary by critic and author Samm Deighan; new interview with editor Kunihiko Ukai; trailer; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Smith; limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp and an archival review of the film. (Radiance/MVD Entertainment).
Five-disc set with nine explosive titles representing some of the best the Japanese crime film has to offer. Fast-paced and action-packed, "Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage" sees detective Joe Kawamura out for revenge against the men who gunned down his partner. Along the way he teams up with Lily, a gun-toting nun looking to get back five million dollars that was stolen from her church. Next up, "Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet" sees wannabe yakuza Junko get more than he bargained for when tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member, or face the consequences for betrayal. Meanwhile, in Shunichi Nagasaki's unbearably tense thriller "Stranger," a late-night taxi driver is stalked by the unseen driver of an SUV, who just might have a connection to the taxi driver's criminal past. In "Carlos," the eponymous Brazilian-Japanese petty criminal sees an opportunity to play rival yakuza gangs against each other, but bites off much more than he can chew. "Burning Dog" is a gripping heist film where a gang of thieves plot to rob a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy. The sequel to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises of all time, "Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat" sees a female assassin hired to infiltrate a women's prison and search for The Scorpion, a legendary rebellious prisoner hiding in the bowels of the building. After his fiancée is killed in the crossfire of a yakuza turf war, a man on the edge remorselessly hunts down the gangsters responsible in legendary director Teruo Ishii's "The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses." Meanwhile in "Danger Point: The Road to Hell," duo of contract killers' fragile partnership is tested when their most recent hit starts to have unforeseen consequences. Finally, assassin and femme fatale Shion rebels against the fanatical religious order who prepared her from birth to be the perfect killer in the pulpy "XX: Beautiful Hunter." Formats: Blu-ray. Extras: Nine postcard-sized artcards;
limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon; illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao, and Hayley Scanlon. Read more here. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment).
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