Hope you all are enjoying the early summer weather! Nothing terribly new this week, but a couple of standout catalog releases worth checking out starting with a new 4K steelbook edition of J.J. Abrams’ Super 8. In the summer of 1979, Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his friends are spending their time making an 8mm zombie film with an older girl Joe likes, Alice (Elle Fanning). While filming at a local railway depot, a catastrophic train accident happens which releases something into the town. With mysterious disappearances and inexplicable events now happening, Joe and his friends are on a mission to find out what it is and how to save their town.
Super 8 is J.J. Abrams love letter to adventure films of the 1980s, especially those of Steven Spielberg, who also produces here. And I would go so far as to say this film is just as good as those 80s classics. The cast are all perfection from the kids in the group to the adults who are trying to figure out life as well including Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard. The pace is great, the effects top notch and have not aged a bit, the humor is genuine and funny and the emotional core of the story is heartfelt and sincere. The train sequence alone is reason to upgrade to 4K. Just a stellar top notch summer adventure movie across the board and a bonafide classic in its own right. Super 8 is very highly recommended for an upgrade.
Next up is a new release from the good folks at Shout! Factory, the Blu-ray debut of the 1981 horror film The Hand. Michael Caine stars as Jonathan Lansdale, a comic book writer and illustrator who loses his right hand in a car accident. Jon gets a prosthetic hand, but his severed hand is never found. As Jon’s life starts to unravel, those who anger him or get in his way mysteriously turn up dead, but Jon can’t figure out who…or what…is killing them all off.
The Hand is a very much underappreciated horror gem. Caine delivers a great over the top performance and of all people, Oliver Stone wrote the screenplay and directed this little known gem. Well-paced, exciting and tense, The Hand is a super fun thriller with an outrageous plot. And to add to the great movie, this new Blu-ray edition features an all new transfer and four brand new interviews with cast and crew including Stone himself! Highly recommended.
Also of note this week is the twisted killer stuffed toy movie Benny Loves You, a new Blu-ray collector’s edition of the 80s adventure classic Explorers with a young Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, and a spectacular new special edition of the 1981 sci fi thriller The Final Countdown with Martin Sheen and Kirk Douglas.
Until next week movie lovers, stay safe!
DVD and Blu-ray Releases for Tuesday May 25, 2021
12 Monkeys: SteelBook Edition (1995)
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)*
Adoration (2019)*
American Fighter (2020)
Arion (1986)*
Benny Loves You
Breaking Spirits
Chaos Walking (2021)
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994)*
Days of Heaven (1978)
Deadly Force: Mission Budapest a.k.a. The Rookies (2019)
Deliver Us from Evil (2020)
Django (1966) 4K
Donny’s Bar Mitzvah (2020)
Drunken Master II (1994)*
Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)*
Evil Everywhere
Explorers (1985)* – Collector’s Edition
Eye of the Tiger (1986)*
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005)*
God Raiga Vs King Ohga
Happily (2021)
Heavy Trip (2018)
Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)*
Kinky Boots
Lights of Old Broadway (1925)*
Martha: A Picture Story (2019)
Million Dollar Mystery (1987)*
Mind Runner
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)*
My Fair Lady (1964) 4K
Nightmare Alley (1947)* – Criterion Collection
Prospect (2018)
Revenge of the Bushido Blade (AKA The Last Reunion)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Sky Blossom
Super 8 (2011) 4K
Supernatural: The Complete Series
Terror Express (1980)*
The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection
The Final Countdown (1980) – 3 Disc Limited Edition 4K
The Groove Tube (1974)*
The Hand (1981)*
The Last Castle (2001)*
The Leather Boys (1964)*
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)*
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)*
The Saint (1997)*
The Tuxedo (2002)*
The Yearling (1946)*
They Won’t Believe Me (1947)*
Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection
Yourself and Yours (2016)
*New to Blu-ray