The Best Picture winner Green Book is the biggest DVD & Blu-ray release in a week packed with impressive offerings. Be it the latest entry in the Wizarding World series, classics from the Warner Archive and/or the Criterion Collections, recent box office efforts, or TV favorites, we think you’ll find something to your liking here!
In 1962, Bronx club bouncer “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) was hired to chauffeur celebrated African-American classical/jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) on his concert tour of the Deep South. The prevailing Jim Crow attitudes they were steeped in on the journey, and the improbable bond that resulted, are memorably drawn in this winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. Linda Cardellini, Dimiter D. Marinov, Mike Hatton co-star; directed by Peter Farrelly.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
The 1920s-set, pre-Potter “Wizarding World” adventures for magical zoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) continue, as he’s exhorted by the young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to head to Paris and undermine the authoritarian power grab of cunning and charismatic renegade wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). J.K. Rowling and David Yates return as screenwriter and director; Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, and Zoë Kravitz also star.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: The Complete Series
Hey, Rocky, watch me pull the funniest animated TV series of the ’60s out of my hat! Follow the classic capers of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and his antlered amigo, Bullwinkle J. Moose, as they foil the nasty plans of Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. These special video editions feature each show complete and uncut, along with “Bullwinkle’s Corner,” “Mr. Know-It-All,” “Fractured Fairy Tales,” “Peabody’s Improbable History,” and other surprises. Voiced by June Foray, Bill Scott, Paul Frees, Daws Butler. All 163 episodes of the series are included in this 18-disc set.
Crusading DA Whitlock (Walter Huston) had long wanted to put away thug Maxey Campo (Ralph Ince), and he thought he had his opening after Maxey personally pulled a daylight hit–with an entire neighborhood family as eyewitnesses. However, will Whitlock’s guarantee of the clan’s safety for their testimony be made worthless by the gang’s strongarm tactics? William Wellman’s pre-Code crime saga co-stars Chic Sale, Grant Mitchell, Sally Blane, Dickie Moore, Frances Starr.
Drinking his way through exile in Paris, deposed monarch Alfred VII (Fernand Gravey) spent an evening at the Folies flirting with chorine Dorothy Ellis (Joan Blondell)…and got a telling off after he slept though their scheduled rendezvous. Impressed with her gumption, Alfred’s remaining retinue (Edward Everett Horton, Mary Nash) schemed to keep the unlikely coupling afloat. Royal romantic farce scripted by Groucho Marx and Norman Krasna co-stars Jane Wyman, Alan Mowbray, Kenny Baker.
Reuniting by chance for the first time since their orphanage girlhood, housewife and mother Isabel (Margaret Lindsay), nightclub singer Fay (Ann Sheridan), and secretary Connie (Marie Wilson) pledge to remain in touch. However, Isabel’s boredom with domestic life leads to her involvement with a sleazy gambler (Richard Bond), and sets the stage for wrenching tragedy. Remake of “Three on a Match” helmed by John Farrow also stars John Litel, Dick Purcell, Janet Chapman.
Stuck as he was on his latest project’s third act, playwright Alan Tanner (George Brent) was glad to see ex-collaborator (and ex-wife) Alice Merritt (Genevieve Tobin) show up at the door of his country retreat. There’d be no shortage of inspiration after circumstances–and a snap blizzard–trapped them inside with, among others, Alan’s alimony-hungry other ex (Glenda Farrell) and a romantically intrigued neighbor (Patricia Ellis)! Frigid farce co-stars Frank McHugh, John Eldredge, Porter Hall.
The Kid Brother (Criterion Collection)
In his frontier town, hapless Harold Hickory (Harold Lloyd) was used to life in the long shadow of his legendary sheriff dad (Walter James) and strapping siblings. But when unknown scoundrels abscond with municipal funds and make his pop the fall guy, it’s the family black sheep who must uncover the real thieves and see justice done. Fun Lloyd vehicle brimming with signature sight gags also stars Jobyna Ralston, Eddie Boland, Frank Lanning, Leo Willis.
The Magic Flute (Criterion Collection)
Mounted for Swedish television broadcast, (an uncredited) Ingmar Bergman’s take on Mozart’s classic fantasy–rendered as an 18th-century stage production before an audience–became perhaps the most acclaimed and successful filmed opera ever produced. The quest of a young noble (Josef Köstlinger) to rescue an abducted princess (Irma Urrila) from a sorcerer (Ulrik Cold) will captivate opera and movie fans alike. Birgit Nordin, Erik Saedén also star.
Scary shocker starring Ally Sheedy as Lori Tanner, a TV reporter whose investigation of a research facility leads her into discovering a ferocious, genetically enhanced canine called Max. Lori takes the pooch in and forms a bond with him, but what she doesn’t know is that with his heightened senses and incredible strength, Max is a most powerful–and deadly–creature. Can he be stopped? Lance Henriksen, Fredric Lehne co-star.
Pat Boone and Family: Springtime and Easter Specials
You can drop in again on Pat, Shirley, and the girls with these fondly remembered ABC specials. First, the “Pat Boone and Family Springtime Special” (1978) features the clan playing host to Parker Stevenson, Dick Van Patten, George Burns, Don Rickles, and the Unknown Comic for fun and musical favorites including “Love Story,” “Higher and Higher,” and others. Then, the Boones are joined in the egg hunt by guests Ted Knight, Katherine Helmond, and John Byner, in the “Pat Boone and Family Easter Special” (1979). Numbers include “Ease on Down the Road,” “If They Could See Me Now,” and more.
The brand of family entertainment that only Perry Como could deliver can be revisited once again with this tremendous special that aired live on NBC. In addition to a duet with Nancy Wilson, comedy from disc jockey George Carlin, and performance from teenage ballerina Joyce Cuoco, Perry delivers “A Taste of Honey,” “The Money Tree,” and “How Beautiful the World Can Be.” Also includes clips from other late-’60s Perry shows with appearances by Flip Wilson, Bobbie Gentry, and Carol Burnett.
Diagnosed with terminal cancer, peripatetic loner Patrick Foley (William Holden) headed back to the Australian Outback of his birth to wind down his days. Bearing witness to a family camping tragedy that orphaned young Shawn Daley (Ricky Schroder), Foley takes it upon himself to try and shepherd the pampered kid back to civilization…while mentoring Shawn in the survival skills he’ll need if he ultimately has to go it alone. Memorable adventure-drama also stars Jack Thompson, Olivia Hamnet.
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, the largest cities thrived, courtesy of engineering breakthroughs that turned their land masses into mobile juggernauts–and allowed them to prey upon smaller communities for their resources. Fate would cast two mismatched teens–historian Tom (Robert Sheehan) and scarred, embittered rebel Hester (Hera Hilmar)–out of London and into a flight for their lives in this visually stunning read on Philip Reeve’s steampunk saga; Hugo Weaving, Stephen Lang, Jihae co-star.
The feature-length pilot to the short-lived television series stars Patrick Duffy as Mark Harris, a mysterious man from the ocean depths with webbed feet and hands and the ability to breathe underwater. Washing ashore with no memory, Harris teams up with a beautiful marine biologist (Belinda Montgomery) to stop a madman (Victor Buono) who plans to use nuclear submarines to launch missiles all over the world.
The Roy Rogers Happy Trails Collection
Four-disc set includes “Sons of the Pioneers,” “Trigger, Jr.,” “Pals of the Golden West,” “Young Bill Hickok,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” “Down Dakota Way,” “The Golden Stallion,” “Man from Oklahoma,” “Rainbow Over Texas,” “Trail of Robin Hood,” “Sunset in El Dorado,” “North of the Great Divide,” “Bells of Coronado,” “South of Caliente,” “In Old Amarillo,” “Along the Navajo Trail,” “Twilight in the Sierras,” “Susanna Pass,” “Spoilers of the Plains,” and “Cowboy and the Senorita.”
For a complete overview of all of this week’s new releases, click here.