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, and catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This twice-monthly column sifts through all those choices to pluck out the movies that are most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.
This week’s disc and streaming guide includes a handful of big fall releases, as well as another truckload of classics hitting 4K, a couple of red-hot new streamers, and one of the best box sets of the year. All that and a pair of new Criterion sets are below, so here we go:
PICK OF THE WEEK:
“Pulp Fiction”: Quentin Tarantino’s sophomore feature and mainstream breakthrough gets the 4K steelbook treatment from Paramount, and it’s a beaut – this was always a good-looking movie, putting a sleek sheen on its grimy material, and the new transfer honors that look. And the movie itself holds up, its handful of mid-‘90s edgelord “n-word” drops aside; every performance is an all-timer (and this remains the pinnacle of Samuel L. Jackson’s film work to date), the music is top-tier, and Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary’s innovative blend of pulp iconography, pop-culture dialogue, and circular storytelling would influence a generation of screenwriters. (Includes deleted scenes, featurettes, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, “Siskel & Ebert” episode, Independent Spirit Awards footage, Cannes film festival footage, trivia track, and trailers.)
ON NETFLIX:
“Sr.”: There’s something richly ironic about Robert Downey Jr. becoming the point man for the highest-grossing mainstream movie franchise of its era, considering that his father was a genuine cinematic anarchist – a provocateur and outsider whose micro-budget movies thumbed their nose at commercial conventions. This marvelous documentary from Chris Smith (“American Movie”) compellingly fills that gap, as the son attempts to reconcile his feelings about his father and his legacy as “Sr.”’s declining health becomes more of a concern. The cutting is marvelous and the approach is genuinely innovative (Downey Sr. begins filming and cutting his own version of the project, and his scenes are occasionally included as point or counterpoint). But as his last days approach, “Sr.” becomes a poignant chronicle of loss, and of coming to terms with what’s coming down the pike.
ON MUBI:
“Decision to Leave”: Park Chan-Wook’s latest is a deliciously enigmatic combination of psychological thriller, police procedural, and impossible romance, with Park Hae-il as a straight-arrow police detective who becomes unwisely (if understandably) obsessed with the widow (Tang Wei) of a wealthy businessman who fell from a mountain in what looks like an accident – or is it? Comparisons to “Vertigo” abound, and deservedly so, but not just for the trickiness of the central relationship; director Park, as Hitch did before him, masterfully uses the tools of the cinema to capture and convey the seductive pull of longing and obsession.
ON 4K / BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
“The Woman King”: Viola Davis is unsurprisingly magnificent in the title role, as the leader of an army of fierce female warriors defending the West African kingdom of Dahomey, circa 1842. Thuso Mbedu is also excellent as Nawi, the stubborn new warrior; the character is compelling, even when dwelling in a dud romantic subplot, and her dynamic with Davis’s General Nansica is potently emotional and thankfully complicated. Director Gina Prince-Blythwood stages the action sequences with breathless abandon, and more spraying blood and visceral violence than you might expect from the PG-13 rating. (Includes audio commentary, Mbedu audition, and featurettes.)
ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
“Ticket to Paradise”: George Clooney and Julia Roberts team for the fifth time for this tropical rom-com as the extremely divorced parents of a college grad (Kaitlyn Dever) who’s about to throw away all of her – okay, their – dreams for a handsome fella. The marquee stars’ shared charisma and charm accounts for so much of what works here; we now, as an audience, have a relationship with them, so we’re pulling for them in a way we don’t when a random Disney personality and Instagram influencer are potentially paired in a new Netflix rom-com. “Ticket” has its problems, but it’s acutely aware of how we feel about George and Julia, and uses that knowledge in ways both expected and surprising. (Also streaming on Peacock.) (Includes featurettes.)
“Amsterdam”: David O. Russell’s first feature in seven years landed with a rather loud belly-flop this fall, but it’s considerably better than its reputation or receipts – particularly once one tunes in to its rather peculiar wavelength. Christian Bale (doing his best Al Pacino), Margot Robbie, and John David Washington gets a real “Bande à part” thing going as a motley trio of old pals who get mixed up in a messy mystery concerning murder, fascists, and a quiet coup. It takes a while to find its footing, and Russell’s unsteady pacing (particularly in the screwball sections) does it no favors. But the narrative is surprisingly timely (and historically accurate), Robbie is dynamite, and there’s something genuinely entertaining about its parade-of-stars casting. It’s not Russell’s best effort, to be sure, but it’s certainly not his worst. (Also streaming on HBO Max.)(Includes featurette.)
“The Velvet Underground”: Todd Haynes’ energetic bio-doc – finally on Blu-ray, via The Criterion Collection – manipulates footage and snatches of sound to create jarring juxtapositions and pastiches in much the same way his subjects made music. The Velvet Underground is a good subject for a film, because it was a very cinematic band, and one of the most valuable aspects of Haynes’ informative bio-documentary is how he contextualizes them within the avant garde scenes, in all kinds of media; music, film, poetry, literature, and visual art all fed in to their distinctive style and aesthetic. (Also streaming on Apple TV+.) (Includes audio commentary, interview, interview outtakes, archival short films, teaser, and essay by Greil Marcus.)
More on the second page.