The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE.
WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU-RAY/4K IN AUGUST: THE PEOPLE’S JOKER, I SAW THE TV GLOW, MONSTER MOVIES, AND MORE!
NEW RELEASE WALL
The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence) and I Saw the TV Glow (A24): Two of 2024’s most exciting and provocative films signal a New New Queer Cinema focused on trans filmmakers and storytelling. Both films use pop-culture characters and tropes to explore the path toward a trans identity: Vera Drew’s audacious People’s Joker casts a coming-out with the denizens of DC’s Comics and cinematic universes, while Jane Schoenbrun’s acclaimed sophomore feature follows the lives of two teen friends whose lives and relationships are forever colored by their obsession with a fictional 1990s teen-horror show. These films bend and break the rules of film narrative creating art that’s as defiant of tradition and expectation as their protagonists.
Also available:
Babes (Decal/Neon): Pamela Adlon’s hilarious pregnancy romp stars Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, and Sandra Bernhard.
The Bikeriders (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment): Tom Hardy and Austin Butler are ’60s bikers in this moody meditation on aimless rebellion.
Dragonkeeper (Shout Studios): A young girl is on a quest to save the last dragon egg in this animated fantasy.
The Garfield Movie (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): In this one, Garfield goes outside and has an adventure with Odie and talks like Chris Pratt.
IF (Paramount Home Entertainment): A young girl reunites people with their former imaginary (but actually quite real) friends.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century Studios): In this standalone sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes, a young ape must determine the future of all two-legged creatures.
The Watchers (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) Dakota Fanning is trapped alongside three strangers in a creature-filled forest in the debut from Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Watchmen: Chapter I (DC/WBD): DC Animation takes on the Alan Moore–Dave Gibbons classic in a two-parter that promises, at the very least, to be truer to the source material than Zack Snyder’s live-action adaptation.
NEW INDIE
June Zero (Cohen Media Group): Jake Paltrow’s historical drama focuses on the trial of Nazi officer Adolph Eichmann.
Ride (Well Go USA Entertainment): An estranged family of bull-riders have to reunite to raise money for the youngest daughter’s cancer treatment.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
Green Border (Kino Lorber): Legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland returns with this festival favorite, a powerful drama that examines the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. Set in the “green border” that lies between Poland and Belarus, the film traces the clash between African and Middle Eastern émigrés lured by EU propaganda promising jobs and prosperity, guards forced to make cruel decisions, and the activists who risk everything to assist the refugees. It’s a brutal and poignant work that asks necessary questions about the current state of the world.
Also available:
Banel & Adama (Kino Lorber): A young Senegalese couple must confront their village’s disapproval in this Cannes Palme d’Or nominee.
The Escort (IndiePix Films): A wild night with a mysterious sex worker goes horribly wrong in this Croatian thriller.
Marguerite’s Theorem (Distrib Films): A French mathematics student has to reevaluate her entire life after her thesis presentation falls apart in this Cannes and César award-winner.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
Swan Song (Greenwich Entertainment): Behind the scenes doc explores the National Ballet of Canada mounting a new production of Swan Lake.
NEW GRINDHOUSE
Empire of the Ants / The Food of the Gods / Frogs / Kingdom of the Spiders / Squirm (all Kino Cult): It’s not too late for a drive-in–style monster-movie marathon, as Kino Cult caps off the summer with a quintet of deliciously dopey creature features. The legendary Bert I. Gordon sends stars to their doom in Food of the Gods (Ida Lupino, Ralph Meeker, and Marjoe Gortner face off with giant rats and chickens) and Empire of the Ants (a post-MGM, pre-DynastyJoan Collins grapples with the giant titular bugs). Throw in William Shatner vs. Spiders, Ray Milland overcome by Frogs, and a cast of character actors battling hordes of worms in Squirm, and you’ve hours of nature-gone-berserk entertainment.
Also available:
Door-to-Door Maniac / Right Hand of the Devil(Film Masters) Johnny Cash goes psycho in Maniac(aka Five Minutes to Live). The equally low-budget Devil follows a berserk heist.
The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Arrow): Three Robert Rodriguez classics, now in 4K. Superfans should also look for a standalone, limited-edition Desperadosteelbook.
Navajo Joe (KL Studio Classics): Burt Reynolds dips into spaghetti Western territory. This new Blu-ray features a commentary by filmmaker and genre expert Alex Cox.
Sudden Death (KL Studio Classics) Jean-Claude Van Damme returns to battle even more dudes, now in face-kicking 4K.
Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza (Radiance): This ’60s yakuza gem follows a lone pacifist drifter who is nevertheless honor-bound to fight.
When Titans Ruled the Earth: Clash of the Titans& Wrath of the Titans (Arrow): This limited Titansbox set in 4K delivers more extras than you ever knew you wanted.
The Woman / Offspring (Arrow): It’s cannibals-à-go-go with this box-set double feature, featuring a dizzying amount of special features for two very controversial contemporary horror films.
NEW CLASSIC
Real Life (The Criterion Collection): After creating memorable Saturday Night Live shorts, Albert Brooks made his feature debut as writer-director-star with this hilarious parody of PBS’ An American Family – and since Family wound up being the precursor to what we now know as reality TV, Real Life has itself become a satire ahead of its time, showing the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into presenting “truth” on television. Criterion is also releasing Brooks’ Mother, co-starring the filmmaker and Debbie Reynolds, an un-obvious choice for the title role, giving a brilliant and hilariously unpredictable performance.
Also available:
99 River Street (KL Studio Classics) A boxer turned cab driver is on the run after his cheating wife is killed by her jewel-thief lover in this 1953 film noir.
Aces High (KL Studio Classics) It’s World War I filtered through a 1970s lens in this British epic with an all-star cast including Malcolm McDowell and Christopher Plummer.
Alphaville (KL Studio Classics) Jean-Luc Godard’s ambitious 1965 dystopian sci-fi is also a shot of New Wave noir, now in 4K.
Annie Laurie (Kino Classics) A 4K restoration of the 1927 Lillian Gish silent epic.
The Apartment (Kino Classics) The 1996 French drama starring Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, so don’t confuse it with the 1960 Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine classic.
Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy (Shout Studios) Three Bill and Ted movies, six discs, all in 4K, and enough special features to send you into another dimension of time and space.
Bless Their Little Hearts (Milestone Cinematheque): Billy Woodberry’s understated neorealist family story, written by fellow LA Rebellion member Charles Burnett, is a vital time capsule of ’80s Black Cinema.
Bob le Flambeur / Le Doulos (both KL Studio Classics) Two crackling crime dramas from the legendary Jean-Pierre Melville influenced and then rode on the tide of the French New Wave.
Brief Encounters / The Long Farewell: Two Films by Kira Muratova (The Criterion Collection): Two underseen dramas of the late ’60s/early ’70s from Romanian-Ukrainian filmmaker Muratova are presented here for rediscovery.
Can’t Hardly Wait (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) This affable 1998 teen party movie – now in 4K – features a full bingo card of “before they were famous” actors.
Collateral (Paramount Home Entertainment): Jamie Foxx, cab driver/hostage, drives murderer Tom Cruise through Los Angeles in Michael Mann’s electrically tense thriller. Now in 4K.
Death to Smoochy (Shout Studios): Danny DeVito’s dark comedy about children’s TV hosts and murder has spent two decades earning its comedy cult-film status.
Drive (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): A gorgeous 4K release of the atmospheric Nicholas Winding Refn/Ryan Gosling crime drama.
I Am a Sex Addict (Factory 25) Caveh Zahedi’s 2005 confessional documentary about his addiction to hiring sex workers is like nothing else you’ve seen.
The Last Emperor (The Criterion Collection): Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-sweeping epic chronicles the life of Puyi, the final emperor of China.
The Last Unicorn (Shout Studios) This young–Gen X Rankin/Bass touchstone from 1982 features the voices of Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, Angela Lansbury, and Christopher Lee.
Last Year at Marienbad (Kino Classics): A 4K restoration of Alain Resnais’ dreamlike landmark, one that gave birth to generations of art-film and fashion shoots.
Nicholas Nickleby (Kino Classics) This 1947 Ealing Studios Dickens adaptation stars Derek Bond and Sally Ann Howes.
Not a Pretty Picture (The Criterion Collection) Martha Coolidge’s acclaimed, unflinching, 1975 hybrid documentary-narrative feature explores the subject of date rape.
Observe and Report (Shout Studios): Blisteringly dark comedy with Seth Rogen as a vigilante mall security guard with dangerous mental-health issues.
Prime Cut (KL Studio Classics) Blunt force ’70s drama about the Midwest crime syndicate stars Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, and Sissy Spacek.
Viva la Muerte (Radiance) Fernando Arrabal’s 1971 coming-of-age cult classic is set against the last days of the Spanish Civil War.
The White Dawn (KL Studio Classics) Warren Oates, Timothy Bottoms and Louis Gossett, Jr. star in this ’70s Canadian Arctic adventure filmed on location.
NEW TV
My Hero Academia: Season 6, Part 2 (Crunchyroll): The immensely popular anime rolls on with havoc-wreaking villains and power struggles.
Single, Out: Season 2 (Cinephobia Releasing): The next season of this sweet, charming, gay Aussie series about a young queer man and his friends.