It’s not even summer yet and already the new DVD and Blu-ray releases are heating up. This time around, we’ve got a restored edition of a Stanley Kubrick/Kirk Douglas favorite, a reboot of a popular videogame film series, a smart coming-of-age film, plus horror, cult, and comedy classics aplenty. Check out what is now available!
Spartacus (Restored Edition)
Stanley Kubrick’s epic adventure stars Kirk Douglas as the Thracian Spartacus, a slave trained to become a mighty gladiator. Uniting his fellow slaves, Spartacus heroically leads the fight to freedom from Roman rule, setting the stage for a vicious power struggle between two Roman senators. Restored version includes the infamous bathing scene. With Stanley Kubrick’s epic adventure stars Kirk Douglas as the Thracian Spartacus, a slave trained to become a mighty gladiator. Uniting his fellow slaves, Spartacus heroically leads the fight to freedom from Roman rule, setting the stage for a vicious power struggle between two Roman senators. Restored version includes the infamous bathing scene. With Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Tony Curtis.
Alicia Vikander stars as Lara Croft in this thrilling reboot of the video game vixen’s film series. The estranged daughter of a wealthy, presumed-dead archeologist, Lara embarks on her first adventure in an effort to find out what happened to her father. Continuing his search for the tomb of the mythical Queen Himiko on an island off the coast of Japan, can she stop a mysterious organization from harnessing Himiko’s supposed powers for their own evil purposes? With Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Kristin Scott Thomas.
Closeted teen Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) was just trying to stay that way as he got through senior year. However, once he fixates on the anonymous online relationship he fosters with a classmate facing the same struggles–and he finds himself blackmailed by a loser (Logan Miller) who screen-caps his correspondence–he, and his circle, have to face up to his truth. Engaging take on Becky Albertalli’s “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” co-stars Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford.
It took a decade, but Dollface, Pin-Up Girl, and Man in the Mask have come back a-knocking! When a pair of concerned parents (Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson) drag their teenage kids (Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman) to their relatives’ trailer court for some family time before the school year, they’ll be treated to something less than a warm welcome by the trio of masked murderers. Fearsome follow-up, co-scripted by creator Bryan Bertino, co-stars Emma Bellomy, Lea Enslin, Damian Maffei.
With their fellow garden decorations going missing, Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) team up with famed sleuth Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) and his assistant, Gnomes Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), to track down their friends. Their investigation takes them all across London, bringing them face to face with the detective’s arch nemesis, sinister pie mascot Moriarty (Jamie Demetriou). Mary J. Blige, Michael Caine also lend their voices to this charming animated sequel.
Wanted for atrocities he committed in the former Yugoslavia, an aging war criminal (Ben Kingsley)–referred to only as the General–is constantly being relocated. At his latest safe house, he meets Tanja (Hera Hilmar), the previous tenant’s maid, with whom he strikes up an unlikely friendship. Tanja is soon drawn into the General’s dangerous world…but is she really who she appears to be? Peter Serafinowicz, Robert Blythe co-star in this offbeat, character-driven drama.
Their marriage long over in all but formality, Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) were each preparing to move on…and the good of their hapless 12-year-old son Alyosha (Matvey Novikov) wasn’t a pressing concern for either. After the boy abruptly vanishes, however, his estranged parents are brought into bitter cooperation as the authorities and community start an unpromising hunt. Bleak allegory from Andrey Zvyagintsev (”Leviathan”) co-stars Marina Vasilyeva, Andris Keišs.
By 2030, a post-apocalyptic America turned to evaluating its populace, tasking a new federal agency with identifying those citizens burdening the system…and relocating them to a promised “New Eden.” Conscience, however, starts troubling veteran agent Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage)–and when his sympathies for a single mother (Sarah Lind) and young son (Jakob Davies) make all three the targets of his superiors, they face a perilous run for the Canadian border. Fantasy-thriller co-stars Hugh Dillon, Vicellous Shannon.
One Day at a Time: Season Three
All 24 episodes from the beloved sitcom’s third season are included in this three-disc set.
Columbo: The Complete Series
Just one more thing! One of the most endearing TV sleuths ever, Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) was a disheveled police detective in a rumpled raincoat who seemed to bumble his way through cases, yet always managed to solve one baffling homicide after another. The long-running crime series first ran on NBC from 1971-78, with movies and revivals over the next two decades. All episodes from the series plus 24 “Mystery Movies” are collected in this 34-disc set.
Midway/MacArthur Double Feature
First, breathtaking war footage, superb special effects, and a stellar cast mark the spectacular World War II drama Midway (1976). Six months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, opposing commanders Nimitz (Henry Fonda) and Yamamoto (Toshirô Mifune) maneuver their forces towards the defining clash, with Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston) providing indispensable heroism. With Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, and James Coburn. Then, MacArthur (1977) is an impressive, action-packed account of one of the most controversial public figures of the century. Gregory Peck delivers a superb performance as U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur. The military maverick defies enemies in World War II, Korea, and the White House, as the film follows the outspoken MacArthur in action from the Philippines to Inchon, to the consequential remarks that that led President Truman (Ed Flanders) to force his retirement. With Russell Johnson.
The Richard Pryor 4-Movie Collection
Two-disc set includes “Car Wash,” “Which Way Is Up?,” “Bustin’ Loose,” and “Brewster’s Millions” (1985).