Blu-ray/DVD Reviews

Just like Fats Domino’s “Let’s Twist Again,” Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 can’t play the same familiar chords with lesser lyrics and expect the same results. It isn’t quite the revved-up rallying call for outcasts that the first one was, so this sequel is best approached with lower expectations.

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Made directly following Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, Rumble Fish has similar young adult coming-of-age source material, but Coppola’s approach to the material is very, very different. It’s out on Blu-ray from Criterion now.

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This Criterion Blu-ray from the new 2K restoration, and with all of it’s supplemental features, is the definitive version of the film. For anyone looking to add a single Hepburn/Tracy movie to their collection, this is the one.

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‘Toni Erdmann’ is funny, unpredictable, and delectable throughout its entirety. It is with no small amount of anger, however, that I must report that  Blu-ray edition is being released only as “Manufactured on Demand.”

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Jackie isn’t standard biopic fare, but instead a hugely resonant examination of conflicting emotions, grief in the spotlight, and the blurry lines between real people and myth-making.

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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is Roger Ebert’s sole screenplay credit and it’s gonzo as hell. He takes a bunch of stock characters (and c-list actors and former Playboy playmates) and grinds them through enough ridiculous conflict to put a season of American Horror Story to shame.

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Son of Saul is a one-of-a kind immersive experience that gives stark glimpses of death-camp murder and madness with a frightening frankness.

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‘Brief Encounter’ is David Lean’s exquisite romantic drama that seems simple on the surface, but even in the face of the extra-marital affair at is heart, it has a heightened sense of morality.

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At the height of the Cold War, the chilling thought that we couldn’t tell the enemy from ourselves was too much to for audiences, who turned a cold shoulder to The Manchurian Candidate. Now that’s its on Criterion Blu-ray, don’t make the same mistake.

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It’s easy to fall for Sisters’ natural charm and just let the movie work on you. Sure, it’s a silly premise with all kinds of moments that don’t quite ring true as realistic, but if we’re going to have one more dumb man-child comedy, at least this one has Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in it.

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There’s little fault to find in Coming Home, which tells a heartbreaking story using components of a cultural upheaval that most of the world, China included, knows little about.

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The Danish Girl, out on Blu-ray now, pulls back every time there is an opportunity for an in-depth exploration of Lili’s psyche or an examination on Gerda’s part for the guilt and regret she may feel for encouraging this.

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The Graduate is on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection, mastered from a 4K digital restoration with a wonderful new 5.1 surround sound remix, approved by Nichols before his death last year, and tons of extra features.

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Death by Hanging is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was released in 1968. New on Blu-ray from Criterion today, this absurdist satire from Nagisa Oshima shows a man executed by the government whose body refuses to die.

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Now that it’s out on Blu-ray, ‘Steve Jobs’ can be seen and appreciated by a wider audience for the engaging biopic that it is.

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