Mid-November is upon us, that means that the studios are getting ready for the holidays by releasing a bunch of exciting DVDs and Blu-rays. Here’s what exciting titles are now available…as a gift for yourself or someone on your list!
In late 1989, as the Cold War was breathing its last, a British intelligence officer was murdered in Berlin…and the dossier in his possession naming every operative in the city was gone. MI-6 sent in its best and deadliest–stone-cold killing machine Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron)–to recover the intel, but will she and local section chief David Percival (James McAvoy) retrieve it in time? Kinetic spy actioner from the Antony Johnson/Sam Hart graphic novel “The Coldest City” co-stars John Goodman, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
The 1950s sci-fi staple gets infused with 1980s consumer-culture satire–and a gender switch–as Lily Tomlin portrays Pat Kramer, an average housewife whose years of exposure to the latest chemical labor-savers cause her to slowly dwindle in size. Though Pat becomes a media sensation, can a cure be found before she disappears from sight? Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson, and Rick Baker as Sidney the gorilla co-star in Joel Schumacher’s directorial debut; based on Richard Matheson’s 1956 novel “The Shrinking Man.”
Psycho: Complete 4-Movie Collection
Check into the motel where guests never check out in the Psycho: Complete 4-Movie Collection, featuring all four thrillers starring Anthony Perkins as the notorious Norman Bates – including the iconic original directed by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. In Psycho, a secretary (Janet Leigh) checks into the remote Bates Motel run by a shy young man (Perkins) with what appears to be a domineering mother. In Psycho II, Norman returns to his family home after 22 years only to be haunted by his past. Old habits die hard when Norman falls for a former nun and angers his jealous mother in Psycho III. Finally, in Psycho IV: The Beginning, Norman calls in to a late-night radio show and shares disturbing memories of his childhood with Mother.
A favorite with the TV horror movie shows of the 1960s, this Bert I. Gordon tale tells of a kindly (but demented) old dollmaker named Mr. Franz (John Hoyt) with such a severe fear of abandonment he miniaturizes his wayward friends and puts them in glass cages so they can never leave him. Shades of “Dr. Cyclops,” Shrinky Dinks(?)! John Agar, June Kenney, Michael Mark, and Susan Gordon co-star. AKA: “Fantastic Puppet People,” “Six Inches Tall.”
The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson
Fans of Britain’s legendary and prolific TV sci-fi producer can’t pass up on this trove of pilots, shorts, test footage, and other barely seen treasures from his portfolio. Among the finds here are the unsold 1967 pilot from his final “Supermarionation” project, “The Investigator”; the 1976 live-action special “The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity”; the 1986 live-action pilot “Space Police,” which would be revised and brought to series a decade later as “Space Precinct”; the final episode of the 1987 stop-motion series “Dick Spanner, P.I.”; and much, much more.
While pursuing a mountain lion through the snows of a Wyoming reservation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife tracker Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) comes upon the corpse of a young Native American woman. Shaken due to the loss of his own daughter under similar, unsolved circumstances, he lends his expertise to raw FBI assignee Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) in the hopes of finding the killer…and a measure of redemption. Intriguing mystery, the directing bow for screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, co-stars Graham Greene, Jon Bernthal, Julia Jones, Kelsey Asbille.
Former CIA interrogator Alice Racine (Noomi Rapace) is reluctantly called back into the field for the first time since failing to prevent a terrorist attack in Paris landed her a low-level undercover assignment. Alice quickly realizes nothing is as it seems when she finds herself betrayed and unsure whom to trust while trying to stop an impending biological strike against London. Michael Douglas, Orlando Bloom, Toni Collette, and John Malkovich also star in this thrilling espionage actioner; directed by Michael Apted.
Originally slated for a 2015 release, this “meta” entry in the long-running horror series is set in a world where the other installments actually exist as films. When single mother Joan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) moves into a new home with her three kids, a series of bizarre events leads eldest daughter Belle (Bella Thorne) to suspect the house has a sinister history–especially after witnessing the effect it seems to have on her comatose twin brother (Cameron Monaghan). With Jennifer Morrison, Mckenna Grace, Taylor Spreitler, and Kurtwood Smith.
Having lived in a bunker since he was abducted as an infant, James Pope (Kyle Mooney) spent 25 years with little external stimulus beyond watching videotapes of “The Brigsby Bear Show”–a kids’ educational offering self-produced by his survivalist kidnapper “parents” (Mark Hamill, Jane Adams). Finally liberated and reunited with his real family, the overwhelmed James somehow concludes that closure will only come if he stages and films a final episode of “Brigsby.” Acclaimed dark farce co-stars Ryan Simpkins, Greg Kinnear, Claire Danes, Beck Bennett.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature
Surly (voiced by Will Arnett) the squirrel is back in this charming computer-animated sequel. This time, Surly–now a beloved and respected figure in the animal community in Liberty Park–must lead his pals on a desperate mission to save their home when Oakton City’s greedy and unscrupulous Mayor Muldoon (Bobby Moynihan) plans to turn it into a gigantic amusement park. Also features the voices of Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Katherine Heigl, Bobby Cannavale.