The summer and September may be a memory, but the fall is just beginning! And what better way to spend those autumn nights that curled up with a good movie or two? (Or ten for that matter!) This week sees the arrival of a truly dazzling amount of hits on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll be watching next!
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
The Marvel hero’s outrageous fourth solo adventure finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) understandably surprised when cancer-battling ex Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) reenters his life, armed with his beloved hammer Mjölnir and imbued with the powers of the Thunder God himself. Joined by pals Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (a motion-captured Taika Waititi), Thor and Jane must prevent the ruthless Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) from destroying all of the universe’s deities.
The Munsters (2022)
From writer/director Rob Zombie comes the strangest love story ever told. Lily is just your typical 150-year-old, lovelorn vampire looking for the man of her nightmaresthat is until she lays eyes on Herman, a seven-foot-tall, green experiment with a heart of gold. It’s love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet in this crazy Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily’s father The Count has other plans for his beloved daughter’s future, and they don’t involve her bumbling beau Herman. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll howl at the moon as The Munsters make their way to Mockingbird Lane!
The Chocolate War (1988)
Offbeat drama, based on Robert Cormier’s acclaimed novel, is set at a Catholic high school where new arrival Jerry Renault (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) is instructed not to take part in the annual chocolate sale for 10 days by a secret society of students called the Vigils. But Jerry takes it upon himself not to participate in the sale at all, putting him at odds with the Vigils as well as tyrannical administrator Brother Leon (John Glover). With Wallace Langham, Bud Cort.
NOVA: Ultimate Space Telescope (2022)
When the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December 2021, it represented the most complicated piece of technology ever sent to the stars–and it has already delivered on its promise of unprecedented images from galaxies to exoplanets to nebulae. The efforts of NASA engineers to make their ambitions reality, from design to construction to deployment, receive a compelling chronicle in this “NOVA” entry.
Superman & Lois: The Complete Second Season (2022)
Premiering in 2021, The CW’s take on the Man of Steel finds married couple Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch, reprising their Arrowverse roles) moving with twin teenage sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alex Garfin) to Clark’s hometown of Smallville. As Jordan hones the powers he’s inherited from his super dad, Clark has his hands full with mysterious new enemy Captain Luthor (Wolé Parks). With Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette. 15 episodes on 3 discs.
Rain (90th Anniversary)(1932)
Joan Crawford stars in this lavish treatment of the stage play based on W. Somerset Maugham’s novel. On a remote Samoan island, career girl Sadie Thompson (Crawford) incites the religious zeal–and eventual lust–of reform-minded pulpiteer Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston). Fred Howard, Ben Hendricks Jr., William Gargan also star; directed by Lewis Milestone.
Bulletproof (2022)
An ambitious thief (James Clayton, who directed and co-wrote) planned an audacious retirement heist from the vicious drug kingpin Temple (Vinnie Jones)…and it went off like clockwork. Well, almost–since he found Temple’s abused and pregnant wife Mia (Lina Lecompte) sitting in his getaway car. Can he get her to a safe space, let alone escape the pursuing hood’s wrath? Gripping chase actioner co-stars Janvier Katabarwa, Lori Triolo, Glenn Ennis.
Cinematographer (2022)
A fascinating look at the art of filmmaking, including stories and clips from the making of some of the greatest films of the 70’s and 80’s. Focuses on several men who made a huge impact on a craft that’s vital to the making of any film.
Kung Fu: The Complete Second Season (2022)
Harvard student Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang) opted to bolt after being shipped by her tiger mom (Kheng Hua Tan) to China for matchmaking–and took shelter in a Shaolin monastery. Three years’ martial arts training there, however, couldn’t help her stop the temple’s ravaging by the villainous Zhilan (Yvonne Chapman)–and now back in San Francisco, Nicky fights against the local criminal element while plotting her vengeance. Powerful reboot also stars Tzi Ma, Eddie Liu, Shannon Dang, Jon Prasida, Vanessa Kai. 13 episodes on 3 discs.
After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (2021)
n the future on a colonized planet–which has proven solely hospitable to women–teenager Roxy (Paula Luna) found a stranger in a death trap, and mercifully extricated her. Unfortunately, the rescued was the notorious murderer Kate Bush (Agata Buzek)…and now, Roxy and her hairdresser mom (Elina Löwensohn) must track and kill the deviant to redeem themselves. Bertrand Mandico’s eye-popping, bizarre fantasy opus co-stars Vimala Pons, Michaël Erpelding.
Preman: Silent Fury (2021)
In an Indonesian village, hearing-impaired Sandi (Farell Akbar) got past a traumatic youth and provided for his son Pandu (Muzakki Ramdhan) the best way he could–as mob muscle for local gang lord Guru (Kiki Narendra). When Pandu eyewitnesses one of Guru’s forced evictions gone fatally awry, his dad must take a fateful and final stand against his erstwhile boss and colleagues. Driving actioner also stars Salvita Decorte, Gilbert Pattiruhu, Revaldo.
A Fugitive from the Past (1965)
In the wake of a maritime disaster, investigating cop Yumisaka (Junzaburō Ban) found something off with two of the corpses that washed ashore. Turns out that they were crooks who’d been knocked off by greedy colleague Inukai (Rentarō Mikuni) after a heist. He’d escape, with the succor of hooker Yae (Sachiko Hidari)…but after a decade, the fates of the three would stunningly intersect once more, in Tomu Uchida’s epic crime opus. Ken Takakura, Kōji Mitsui co-star.
Krypto the Superdog: The Complete Series
It’s “ruff, ruff, and away” with the canine Kryptonian, in this comedic and action-packed 2005-2006 Cartoon Network animated series. Serving as a test pilot for Jor-El’s first interstellar spacecraft, Krypto comes to Earth and meets young Kevin, who befriends the super-powerful pup and joins him–with some help from Streaky the Supercat and Ace the Bat-Hound–in defending Metropolis’ people and animals from nefarious evildoers. Voiced by Sam Vincent, Brian Drummond, Scott McNeil, Tabitha St. Germain.
39 episodes on 5 discs.
The Sporting Club (1971)
For the one-percent gentry of a Great Lakes community, the local hunting lodge was always a refuge for respectable revelry. Sociopath rich kid Vernur Stanton (Robert Fields), however, was of a mind to shake things up–and his hiring of a dope-smoking outlaw (Jack Warden) as new groundskeeper was only the first step in undermining their ordered world. Subversive dramedy from the Thomas McGuane novel also stars Nicolas Coster, Margaret Blye, Richard Dysart, Logan Ramsey.
Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
Widowed Brooklynite Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman) was feeling the vise between the slow demise of his indie record store and the inevitable departure of his beloved daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) for medical school. When he uploads one of their familial musical jams and it becomes a viral hit, will he wind up pressuring her into tabling her hopes and dreams in order to pursue his? Song-filled, feel-good opus also stars Ted Danson, Toni Collette, Sasha Lane, and Blythe Danner.
Sound of Metal (Criterion Collection)(2019)
For avant-garde rock drummer Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed), touring career and tenuous sobriety were both put at risk with a diagnosis of continuing hearing loss. Unable to afford cochlear implants, he’s convinced by lover/vocalist Lou Berger (Olivia Cooke) to enter and embrace a shelter for deaf recovering addicts–but the prospect of life without her, or music, may force some shattering choices. Darius Marder’s acclaimed study also stars Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Almaric.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 4 (Criterion Collection)
A pair of working-class Budapest roommates have one another’s back through their professional and romantic travails, in soon-to-be expatriate André de Toth’s Two Girls on the Street (1939). The conscripted labor at a yerba mate plantation may have fatefully had their fill of their sadistic foreman, in Argentine helmer Mario Soffici’s social realist saga Prisioneros de la Tierra(1939). Kalpana (1948), the sole directing credit for Indian dancer/star Uday Shankar, finds his bid to open a cultural center striking jealous sparks between his lead performer and his business partner. French West Indies pioneer Sarah Maldoror’s 1961-set Sambizanga (1972) follows an Agolan woman’s hunt for her husband after his seizure by the Portuguese authorities. A Cameroonian couple face heartbreak when she becomes pregnant and he can’t afford the traditional and mandatory dowry, in Jean-Pierre Dikongué-Pipa’s Muna Moto (1975).The grasping and dangerous agendas of a Persian family come to light as they wrangle over their matriarch’s estate, in Mohammad Reza Aslani’s Chess of the Wind (1976).
Click here for a complete overview of all of this week’s new releases.