A Star is Born is one of 2018’s most-loved and successful pictures…not to mention a favorite to win big at this year’s Academy Awards. That, well, star-packed romantic drama is one of several great movies making their eagerly awaited debut on DVD and Blu-ray this week. See what others are now available below, and get starstruck by the variety of new releases on display this week!
Bradley Cooper co-wrote, directed, and stars in the acclaimed third updating of William Wellman’s 1937 drama. Gifted aspiring singer/songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga) gets a much-deserved shot at stardom when she’s discovered by seasoned and successful musician Jackson Maine (Cooper). The two slowly fall in love, but their relationship is threatened by Ally’s success and Jackson’s struggles with alcohol. Sam Elliott, Rafi Gavron, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle also star.
By the 1990s, author Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy)–once renowned for her profiles of successful women–had fallen on hard financial times and was battling alcoholism and writer’s block. Lee’s desperate plan to forge letters and pass them off as being written by various deceased famous people eventually lands her and her friend and accomplice Jack (Richard E. Grant) in hot water with the FBI. Acclaimed biodrama, based on the real-life Israel’s memoir, also stars Jane Curtin, Dolly Wells, Anna Deavere Smith.
Returning home after fighting in the Crusades, Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) is trained by a Moorish soldier (Jamie Foxx) to secretly become an outlaw archer called the Hood. Can he win back fetching ex-love Marian (Eve Hewson) while trying to stop the sinister Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) from stealing money from the citizenry in order to fund a war that will allow him to seize the throne of England? Tim Minchin, Jamie Dornan co-star in this action-packed spin on the oft-filmed legend.
Death in Venice (Criterion Collection)
Seeking to recoup after a professional disaster, middle-aged composer Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) opted to holiday on the Lido beaches. Struck by the handsomeness of a vacationing teenager (Björn Andrésen), he finds himself trapped in doomed obsession with the youth, even as the city succumbs to a cholera outbreak. Luchino Visconti’s brilliant read on the Thomas Mann novella also stars Marisa Berenson, Silvana Mangano, Mark Burns, Romolo Valli.
Seven years ago, a police firefight with a bank heist ring left only one perp (Matthew Modine) alive…but with massive head trauma. Now, a pack of crooks have conspired to spring the amnesiac convict from jail, and subject him to an experimental drug targeted at restoring his memories–including the location of his loot. Can the veteran cop (Sylvester Stallone) on the case prevent further mayhem? Intense actioner co-stars Ryan Guzman, Christopher McDonald, Meadow Williams, Colin Egglesfield.
During the London Blitz, centuries-old vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) is freed from the prison of slumber he’s been in ever since he was staked through the chest over two decades earlier. Awakened and back on the prowl, the bloodsucking Tesla recruits his werewolf henchman (Matt Willis) as he hatches a sinister plot of vengeance. Effective low-budget chiller also stars Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Roland Varno, Miles Mander.
This is not Brooklyn. This is not the Bronx. This is not even New York…this is Chinatown….And all Hell’s breaking loose. Assigned to keep order in the streets, police captain and Vietnam vet Stanley White (Mickey Rourke) swiftly runs afoul of ambitious young gangster Joey Tai (John Lone), who has no problem making the vendetta personal–and lethal. Michael Cimino’s crackling crime opus co-stars Ariane, Dennis Dun, Eddie Jones; Oliver Stone adapted the Robert Daley novel for the screen.
Scuffling London secretary Julia Ross (Nina Foch) was pleased to have landed a live-in personal position with wealthy and seemingly kindly widow Mrs. Hughes (Dame May Whitty). The delight ended when she woke up imprisoned in a Cornish mansion–and being held out to all by Mrs. Hughes, and her unbalanced son Ralph (George Macready), as Ralph’s mentally fragile wife. Modest yet memorable suspenser from Joseph H. Lewis co-stars Roland Varno, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Doris Lloyd.
On the eve of D-Day, a handful of American paratroopers who survived their unit’s ill-fated drop over France pushed ahead with their assignment to take out a Nazi radio tower. The mission, however, would deliver more than just the anticipated terrors–as they stumbled upon a German science project tasked with resurrecting their fallen soldiers as unstoppable zombies. Unapologetic genre mash-up from Bad Robot stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbæk, Iain De Caestecker.
By the time she was 20 she was ruler of 1st century B.C. Egypt, and she used her beauty and cunning to win the hearts of two of Rome’s mightiest rulers, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Leonor Varela stars as once-exiled Cleopatra, who returns to her homeland to reclaim her throne and oversees her country’s war with the armies of Roman emperor Octavius. Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane, and Rupert Graves co-star in this sweeping historical miniseries based on a novel by Margaret George.
The final entry in Neil Simon’s trilogy focusing on Eugene Jerome–a stand-in for Simon himself–was this made-for-TV filming of the popular play. As Eugene (Corey Parker) and his brother, Stanley (Jonathan Silverman), use their family drama as material while trying to make it as comedy writers, they must also cope with the impending break up of their parents’ (Anne Bancroft and Jerry Orbach) marriage. Hume Cronyn, Michele Lee also star.
H.G. Lewis’ salute to the art world follows a struggling painter who cannot complete his latest work until after killing his girlfriend and finding just the right shade of red. He becomes a hit, but must maintain a steady supply of the special pigment. “They say Gauguin was obnoxious, too!” Don Joseph, Candi Conder, Elyn Warner, Pat Finn-Lee star.
Rob Lowe stars in this hard-hitting tale as Dean Youngblood, a naive farm boy from rural New York, and a skilled hockey player determined to play in the NHL. He gets a spot on a minor Canadian team where he’s mentored by a veteran player (Patrick Swayze) while romancing the coach’s daughter (Cynthia Gibb). But Youngblood soon discovers he’ll need to be better with his fists if he’s going to make it on the ice. With Ed Lauter, Jim Youngs, and in an early role, Keanu Reeves.
For a complete overview of all of this week’s new DVD and Blu-ray releases, click here.