Here’s what out of this world new DVD and Blu-rays are beaming down this week!
Star Trek 50th Anniversary TV and Movie Collection
Thirty-disc-set includes all three seasons of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (Director’s Cut), “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” and the multi-part documentary “Star Trek: The Journey to the Silver Screen.” 88 3/4 hrs. total.
As she recuperated from career-threatening vocal surgery, rock diva Marianne (Tilda Swinton) retreated to a scenic Mediterranean island with her filmmaker lover Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts). When their idyll is interrupted by two unexpected guests─Marianne’s overbearing producer ex Harry (Ralph Fiennes), and his gorgeous daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson)─their presence may result in more than one stunning betrayal, in director Luca Guadagnino’s sensual remake of 1969’s “La Piscine.” 124 min.
Controversial biographical look at the troubled life and times of Nina Simone casts Zoe Saldana as the gifted pianist/vocalist, and gives primary focus to her professional and personal struggles through the ‘80s and ‘90s as she searched for a career resurgence, and sorely tested her bond with assistant-turned-manager Clifton Henderson (David Oyelowo). Saldana effectively re-creates many Simone standards; Kevin Mambo, Ronald Guttman, Keith David, Mike Epps also star. 90 min.
Unusual blend of sci-fi and romantic drama follows Silas (Nicholas Hoult) a man living in a future society free of disease and populated by people who are completely devoid of human emotions. When Silas becomes “infected” with a strange illness that begins to cause him to have feelings, he falls in love with Nia (Kristen Stewart), a co-worker secretly afflicted with the same ailment. Now, they must hide their love for one another as they plan a daring escape from their sterile, controlled environment. With Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver. 101 min.
In the late 1920s, Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth)–the Scribner’s editor who’d helped shape the literary output of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Guy Pearce) and Ernest Hemingway (Dominic West)–received a submission from the gifted but undisciplined Southerner Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law). The complexity of the mentorship and bond that developed–and would ultimately fissure due to the temperaments of the author and his patron/paramour Aline Bernstein (Nicole Kidman)–is evocatively limned in this period detail-rich offering; Laura Linney, Vanessa Kirby also star. 104 min.
Bryan Cranston reprised his Tony Award-winning stage performance as President Lyndon B. Johnson in this captivating chronicle of LBJ’s tumultuous first year in office, as his cagey efforts to secure John Kennedy’s desired passage of the Civil Rights Act found him having to allay the skepticism of Dr. Martin Luther King (Anthony Mackie) while extracting acceptance from Dixiecrat senator Richard Russell (Frank Langella). Melissa Leo, Stephen Root, Bradley Whitford, Ray Wise, Joe Morton also star. 132 min.
In this slick sequel, the magicians/thieves known as the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and new addition Lizzy Caplan) are recruited by a tech prodigy (Daniel Radcliffe) to “acquire” some new software that steals its users’ data. Nothing is as it seems, of course, and the Horsemen soon find themselves double-crossed when it’s revealed their new boss has a shocking connection to someone from their past. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman also star. 94 min.