Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.
This week’s new streaming and disc guide (okay, it’s mostly a disc guide) is a back-breaker – which is unsurprising, with the holidays approaching, and the hunt for gift ideas already heating up. We’ve got an assortment of 4K favorites, a boatload of classics, an Oscar hopeful, and oddball choices for the stranger folks on your list:
PICK OF THE WEEK:
“The Bank Dick”: It’s a banner week for fans of W.C. Fields, with three of his classic comedies making their Blu-ray debut via KL Studio Classics. All are riots (more on the other two below), but this fan’s choice for the best is the latest of the bunch, this 1940 Fields vehicle from his late-period run at Universal. By this point in his career, his comic character was so well-established, so familiar to his audience, that all he had to do was show up in an unexpected situation and the laughs would roll in; here, Fields’ drunken cynic takes the form of Egbert Sousé, a small-town lay-about who first takes over a motion picture shoot and then becomes an unlikely (really unlikely) hero when he becomes a bank security guard. The gags fly fast and furious, the supporting players are priceless, and Fields is at his funniest. (Includes audio commentary and theatrical trailer.)
ON NETFLIX:
“Passing”: Rebecca Hall takes a confident step behind the camera for this searing adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson as two young Black women, old friends (perhaps more) who have made very different lives for themselves from their light skin. But these decisions are never simple, or without ramification, and Hall’s tender screenplay examines both the complications of their current relationships and the trickiness of their shared past.
ON 4K ULTRA-HD BLU-RAY:
“Mad Max Anthology”: The “Mad Max” series is just one of those franchises that screams out for the 4K experience; though made over 36 years, under wildly varying budgets and circumstances, George Miller’s four-film epic has always been at the vanguard of action movie-making, crafting breathtakingly visceral sequences and wildly immersive worlds. “The Road Warrior” and “Fury Road” are the inarguable series highlights, relentless, pedal-to-the-metal bruisers of borderline vehicular manslaughter, but even the weakest of the bunch (and make no mistake, that’s “Beyond Thunderdome”) is never boring.
“Scream”: Director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson reconfigured the entire horror landscape with this surprise smash from 1996, which both winked at the conventions of slasher cinema, and cheerfully engaged with them. Much of the film has permanently embedded itself in popular culture – via memes, quotations, rip-offs, and parodies – that it almost feels like the genuine article should no longer play, but it’s simply too sturdy a script, too sharply executed, to fall apart. And yes, that first, “Psycho”-style death still packs a wallop. (Includes audio commentary, featurettes, and Q&A.)
“The Outsiders: The Complete Novel”: One of Francis Ford Coppola’s earlier experiments in cinematic revision was this 2005 recut of his adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s young adult novel, which originally came in at over two hours, but he trimmed to barely over 90 minutes for its 1983 theatrical release. Much of that footage is restored for this version, and it’s the better one; it feels more like he achieved his presumed, “Godfather”-like goal of turning pulp into art. Set in the early 1960s, this story of greasers from rough homes and absentee parents who find, in each other, a makeshift family is an often moving exploration of vulnerability and sensitivity in the face of rituals of masculinity. It fumbles a bit at the end – there’s a feeling that everyone has to get their Big Acting Moment in – but it’s gorgeously photographed and crisply assembled, and the before-they-were-stars cast (including Matt Dillion, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise) is sort of undefeated. (Includes theatrical version, introduction, featurettes, and deleted scenes.)
“Summer of ‘84”: “Even serial killers live next door to somebody,” explains Davey (Graham Verchere) in the opening narration of this indie suspenser from directors François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell. And sure, the Amblin-esque ‘80s kids premise has passed its saturation point, but unlike most of those empty throwbacks, “Summer” actually bothers to build a real movie on top of it, as Davey (shades of “The Window,” below) sees something he shouldn’t, and drafts his “Goonies but horny” pals to help him prove that his highly-decorated police officer neighbor is, in fact, a bloodthirsty killer. “Mad Men” co-star Rich Sommer is pitch-perfect as the neighbor in question, mixing menace and affability with unnerving ease, and the filmmakers prove adept at building suspense sequences, often out of thin air. (Includes audio commentary, blooper reel, interviews, short film, and storyboards.)
“Maniac Cop 2”: Director William Lustig and writer/producer Larry Cohen reteamed for this 1990 sequel to their 1988 cult hit, stirring up another potent brew of supernatural thriller, slasher movie, and social commentary. Once again, the notion of an undead killer in an NYPD uniform becomes a potent metaphor for public distrust – but mostly, it’s a vehicle for nasty kills, cheap laughs, and scenery chewing (most of it courtesy of star, and straight-to-video legend, Robert Davi). As storytelling, it’s deranged, but the craft is first-rate, and the energy is relentless. (Blue Underground is also releasing the inferior but still entertaining “Maniac Cop 3” on 4K.) (Includes audio commentary, isolated music track, featurette, Q&A, deleted scene, and theatrical trailers.)
“The Guns of Navarone”: This 1961 war adventure from J. Lee Thompson (“Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”), adapted from Alistair MacLean’s novel, assembles an all-star cast (including Gregory Peck, David Niven, Richard Harris, and Anthony Quinn) for a prototypical “men on a mission” movie with all the trappings: a ticking clock (in this case, six days to disable the titular weapons before an unstoppable blitz), long odds, high stakes, a big plan, the assembly of a motley crew, the setbacks, and (spoiler) the victory. Thompson hits those beats gracefully, and with its gorgeous new transfer, the film roars and thrills like a contemporary blockbuster. (Includes audio commentaries, documentaries, and featurettes.)
“Ticks”: Vinegar Syndrome gives the 4K treatment to this 1993 video store favorite, with the late Peter Scolari as a scientist leading a group of Troubled Teens – including a precocious Seth Green, “She’s Out of Control” ingénue Ami Dolenz, and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-star Alfonso Ribeiro, hilariously unconvincing as a street tough – for a wilderness retreat, only to waltz right into a When Animals Attack scenario (in this case, mutant, bloodsucking ticks). The supporting cast shines (particularly a fully committed Clint Howard) and the make-up and monster effects are strikingly good, even (especially, frankly) in 4K. (Includes audio commentaries and making-of documentary.)
ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”: Michael Showalter’s dramatization of the life of disgraced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (and adaptation of the documentary of the same name) suffers from occasional bouts of biopic-itis – material is skimmed, exposition can be clunky, and of course we have to see The Real People at the end. But Showalter’s sense of comic timing and pacing make a big difference, keeping the film from getting bogged down in the micro-details, and Abe Sylvia’s screenplay wisely focuses on the complicated relationship between Tammy (an excellent Jessica Chastain) and her mother (played with disappointed glares galore by Cherry Jones) to provide an emotional through-line. (Includes featurette.)
“Muhammad Ali”: Muhammad Ali isn’t exactly an unexplored subject in the world of documentary film – few figures in American culture have been more thoroughly chronicled, with entire feature films devoted to single fights or specific relationships. But PBS’ documentary mini-series is the work of Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, who previously collaborated on chronicles of Jackie Robinson and the Central Park Five, so this is no greatest hits package; over the four parts (or “rounds”) of their film, they situate Ali into the political scene and world history that he was reacting to, and, in many cases, making.
“Ma Belle, My Beauty”: The three points of a polyamorous relationship reunite, with no shortage of leftover heat and tension, in this South of France-set romantic drama from director Marion Hill. And it’s a deeply pleasurable experience, filled with luminous music and gorgeous views of the French countryside and beautiful people drinking wine in the sun and frolicking in forgotten ponds. It’s all so breezy and light that you just want to join them and hang out for a while, even with all the drama they’ve got brewing. (Includes trailers.)
“The Last Matinee”: How’s this for meta: here we have an exploitation movie about a slasher on the loose in… an exploitation movie theater. It’s a grindhouse movie – literally! Director Maximiliano Contenti and screenwriter Manuel Facal assemble the full compliment of movie-going types, as various teen friends, horny couples, and weirdos die in inventive, often stomach-churning ways. The winks land and the gags are impressive (disturbing, often); this is a clever concept, rendered with style and flair. (Includes audio commentary, deleted scene, films-within-the-film, featurettes, short films, music video, and storyboard.)
ON BLU-RAY:
“New York Ninja”: This ostensible vehicle for martial arts star John Liu was shot on location in 1984, abandoned, and rediscovered decades later by the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome – but only as raw footage, without a soundtrack or so much as a shooting script to go by. So VS’s Kurtis Spieler used those puzzle pieces to build a new narrative, voiced by an all-star cast of genre favorites (including Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Linnea Quigley, and Leon Isaac Kennedy). The result is bonkers in the best way, a bargain basement “Death Wish” that’s extremely silly but undeniably enjoyable, the kind of goofiness that only gets better with age. (Includes audio commentary, making-of documentary, interviews, location featurette, deleted scenes with commentary, B-roll and outtakes, original sizzle reel VHS, and trailer.)
“The Chinese Boxer”: Even the classics of kung fu cinema rarely get the respect they deserve on video, which is one of the many reasons to praise 88 Films’ beautiful new Blu-ray of this martial arts classic, which gives the gorgeous, widescreen Shawscope cinematography its proper presentation. And the film itself is a blast, a rough, scrappy heroes-and-villains story packed with the cornerstones of the genre: quicksilver camerawork, rapid-fire snap zooms, brutal (and often gory) fight scenes, and a fabulous bad guy in writer/director Jimmy Wang Yu, who cackles maniacally and wreaks havoc unapologetically. (Includes audio commentary, featurettes, interviews, trailers and TV spots, essay by Andrew Graves.)
“L.A. Story”: When Steve Martin’s first film as both writer and star since the triumph of “Roxanne” was released in 1991, a fair number of critics dismissed it as a transparent West Coast reworking of “Manhattan.” But anyone who’s tried to watch “Manhattan” lately knows that maybe it’s time to go ahead and switch them up in our hearts and minds. As a somewhat dim-bulb TV weatherman on a romantic journey, Martin (both the writer and the actor) sends up the vapidness of Los Angeles culture (and “culture”) with both precision and familiarity; you have to really know a place, and really love it, to satirize it this well. (Includes deleted scenes, outtakes, featurettes, interview, and theatrical trailers.)
“La Strada”: The best-known – and, coincidentally enough, the best – of Federico Fellini’s collaborations with star and muse Giuletta Masina, this 1954 Italian drama was an early Criterion DVD release, getting the bump to stand-alone Blu-ray after its inclusion in last year’s essential Fellini box set. It’s the heartbreaking story of a simple young woman sold to a circus strongman (Anthony Quinn, marvelous) and subjected to the circus life. But this is no golden-glowing story of life on the road, and relationship between its leading characters is thorny, complicated, and ultimately wrenching. (Includes audio commentary, introduction by Martin Scorsese, documentaries, trailer, and essay by Christina Newland)
“Vanilla Sky”: Time has been kind to Cameron Crowe’s remake (or, as he put it, “cover”) of Alejandro Amenábar‘s “Open Your Eyes”; it was initially received with outright hostility, confusing audiences and prompting critics to cry narcissism and self-indulgence on the part of both Crowe and star Tom Cruise, reuniting after the much gentler “Jerry Maguire.” But now, it seems not only a daring attempt by Crowe to buck his customary audience-pleasing inclinations, but a subtly scorching exploration of Cruise’s image and celebrity, which would all but implode a few scant years later. It’s odd and off-putting and occasionally disturbing, and that’s just not something we typically say about Cameron Crowe movies. (Includes audio commentary, new introduction, alternate ending, featurettes, interviews, music video, gag reel, deleted scenes, and trailers.)
“Ragtime”: When it hit theaters in 1981, some were disappointed by Milos Forman’s adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel, mostly for leaving out, well, the amount of material you have to leave out to turn a doorstop novel into a feature film. (These days, it’d be a limited series, and that would be that.) But freed of the expectations of that literary sensation, this is a terrific period drama, beautifully assembled and memorably acted (with particularly strong work by star Howard Rollins, a young Mandy Patinkin, and in his final film role, the great James Cagney). And its themes of systemic racism and Black protest, sadly, haven’t aged a day. (Includes director’s cut workprint, audio commentary, deleted and extended scenes, featurettes, and conversation with Larry Karaszewski and Michael Weller.)
“Some Came Running”: Vincente Minnelli’s 1958 adaptation of James Jones’ novel is a fascinating experiment, with the ornate filmmaker shooting a psychological drama like one of his musicals – widescreen color photography, stylized lighting, big emotional moments. It works, and beautifully, heightening the stakes and lending to the picture’s overall state of confused, drunken disarray. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin are marvelous in the leads (and some of their most on-brand – Martin’s literal first line is “Let me buy you a drink”), but the show-stealer is Shirley MacLaine, who plays her emotional doormat of a character with so much buried pain and eternally-springing hope that she turns the picture into something like Greek tragedy. (Includes featurette and theatrical trailer.)
“The Naked Spur”: The 1950s Western collaborations between director Anthony Mann and star James Stewart were a high water mark for the genre, introducing the kind of complexity and nuance that would carry them into the revisionist era. This 1953 classic is less a Western than a psychological drama, tracking a makeshift crew of intersecting and clashing interests on a long, perilous journey, using their suspicions and motivations to build taut suspense sequences. It’s both viscerally and intellectually thrilling, and Robert Ryan is particularly good, creating a portrait of calculating sadism for which the word “villain” seems too polite. (Includes comedy short, cartoon, and theatrical trailer.)
“The Last of Sheila”: “THE GAME WILL BEGIN EVERY NIGHT AT 8:00 SHARP.” So go the invites to the weeklong yachting getaway hosted by Clinton (James Coburn) the casually cruel games-player, to which he invites six Hollywood types, each harboring a secret. The way those secrets are revealed is the first of many ways in which the deliciously twist script by Stephen Sondheim (yes, that one) and Anthony Perkins (yes, that one) bucks expectation; an unexpected crime occurs, and the players essentially have to finish the game to solve the mystery. Said mystery’s outcome is both airtight and unpredictable, but the solution is less the point than the hang-out vibe, as stars Richard Benjamin, James Mason, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, Ian McShane, and Joan Hackett drink and plot and crack wise. (Includes audio commentary and theatrical trailer.)
“Fury”: A full-course meal of a movie from director Fritz Lang, which veers from romantic drama to film noir to courtroom drama, and never misses a beat. Sylvia Sydney and Spencer Tracy project offhand intimacy and a fair amount of heat as a long-distance couple whose reunion is derailed by a false accusation of murder and horrifying local mob’s calls for vengeance – making it, rather fascinatingly, a reworking of Lang’s classic “M” (particularly in its portraiture of the ecstasy of that mob). It’s a complex, challenging, and compelling picture. (Includes audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, archival interview audio with Lang, and theatrical trailer.)
“The Window”: This 1949 thriller is like a B-movie version of “Rear Window” (albeit one shot on real New York locations), with little Bobby Driscoll as a neighborhood kid with a penchant for tall tales who witnesses his neighbors committing a murder – but no one will believe him. It’s a classic “boy who cried wolf” story, but rendered in the authentic urban locale and pervasive darkness of film noir; the peril is real, the script is sharp, and the direction (by the esteemed cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff, who shot Hitchcock’s “Notorious”) is moody as hell.
“Ladies They Talk About”: Everyone loves a Pre-Code movie, and everyone loves a women-in-prison movie – so how’s about a Pre-Code women-in-prison movie? Barbara Stanwyk (absolute fire, as always) is a gun moll who finds herself in the big house when she refuses to drop dime after a bank job goes sideways. Behind bars, she pals up with the great Lillian Roth and takes in a variety of colorful characters, while a pureblooded reformer type tries to save her. The picture talks fast and moves faster (a tight 69 minutes), and if there’s a single flaw, it’s you can’t imagine this tough cookie being happier after the “happy” ending. (Includes vintage cartoon and trailer.)
“It’s a Gift”: To return to the “pick of the week” territory, some fans claim this 1934 comedy from director Norman Z. McLeod to be W.C. Fields’ best vehicle, and I’ll not make a particularly strenuous argument there – it’s an absolute scream, with Fields as a New Jersey pharmacist who makes big plans to take his family across the country to the good life in California. As usual, the plot is just a clothesline for the gags, and they’re awfully good ones; the laughs land in the big pharmacy set piece with machine-gun speed, and the “back porch” scene (a stage favorite from his days with Zeigfeld) is a marvel. (Includes audio commentary and theatrical trailer.)
“The Old-Fashioned Way”: There was something very wrong, and thus strangely very right, about W.C. Fields in a period piece, and this 1934 treat places him in the late 19th century as “The Great McGonigle,” the actor-manager of a (apparently terrible) traveling theater troupe. As he often did, Field had a hand in the writing of this one, taking his inspiration from his many years on the vaudeville circuit – and it has a feeling of being told from the inside out, but with the nostalgia nicely curdled by the sourness of his central character. And while it doesn’t approach the perfection of “The Bank Dick” and “It’s a Gift,” “The Old-Fashioned Way” has some of Fields’ best work with his frequent foil “Baby Leroy,” and his sheer displeasure at the antics of this adorable toddler still feels slightly subversive. (Includes audio commentary and theatrical trailer)
“Breakheart Pass”: After the massive success of “Death Wish,” Charles Bronson knew he had to keep from being typecast in similar entertainments, so he made a wide variety of pictures – most of which tanked, and he ended up making more “Death Wish” movies. This 1975 adventure from director Tom Gries was one of the best of those atypical Bronson vehicles, casting him as a scoundrel (perhaps) who seems the only honest man on an Army transport train where people keep turning up dead. Equal parts murder mystery, action movie, and winking romance, this one is a real treat. (Includes audio commentary.)
“Boardinghouse”: AGFA’s Blu-ray release of the notorious 1982 shot-on-video slasher defaults to the theatrical cut, scanned from a scratched-up 35mm print, and that’s exactly as it should be – HD is HD, but this is the kind of movie that should only be viewed through a layer of gunk. (The disc also includes a version scanned from the original tape master, but the home-movie quality of the picture is even more off-putting there.) With bug-eyed over-acting, badly improvised dialogue, shoddy production values, and the scuzziest leading character… ever, it’s a slab of ‘80s sleaze as pure as uncut Bolivian blow. (Includes two alternate versions, audio commentaries, music vidoes, and bonus feature “Sally & Jess” with audio commentaries and on-set footage.)
“The Laughing Dead”: Ritual sacrifices, foul-mouthed kids, zombies, blood and body parts by the gallon – yes, folks, it’s another early-‘90s straight-to-video horror flick from Vinegar Syndrome, and this one’s particularly nutty. A priest leads a tourist group to the ruins of the “Mayan God of Death” on “All Souls Day,” and mayhem ensues. The comic beats fail miserably, but Tim Sullivan is quite good in the leading role, and the effects are gruesomely effective. (Includes audio commentary and making-of documentary.)
“Nothing Underneath”: An utterly bonkers late giallo / slasher from director Carlo Vanzina, in which our handsome hero (Tom Schanley) travels to Italy, certain that his supermodel sister is in grave danger – because, you see, they’re telepathically connected. The entire narrative has that kind of coked-up, whatever-the-hell energy; the camera leers wildly, a serial killer picks off more supermodels, and Donald Pleasance (with a wildly overdone Italian accent) pursues casually. It’s all quite enjoyably insane. (Includes bonus feature “Too Beautiful to Die,”audio commentaries, and interviews.)
