It’s a pretty slow week for new releases, but there are some noteworthy post-Christmas offerings that are ready to ring in the new year with you. Let’s take a look:
Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years
Nineteen-disc set of Clint Eastwood classics includes “Where Eagles Dare,” “Kelly’s Heroes,” “Dirty Harry,” “Magnum Force,” “The Enforcer” (1976), “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” “The Gauntlet,” “Every Which Way But Loose,” “Bronco Billy,” “Any Which Way You Can,” “Honkytonk Man,” “Firefox,” “Sudden Impact,” “City Heat,” “Tightrope,” “Pale Rider,” “Heartbreak Ridge,” “Bird,” “The Dead Pool,” “Pink Cadillac,” “White Hunter, Black Heart,” “The Rookie” (1990), “Unforgiven” (1992), “A Perfect World,” “The Bridges Of Madison County,” “Absolute Power,” “Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil,” “True Crime” (1999), “Space Cowboys,” “Blood Work,” “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Gran Torino,” and the documentary “The Eastwood Factor,” plus hours of special features.
Apollo 17 was the last NASA manned mission to the moon. Or was it? This sci-fi terror tale presents “actual” found footage of a secret Apollo 18 mission that was funded by the U.S. Department in Defense in December of 1973. What the astronauts discovered during this expedition was so terrifying that the truth had to be covered up…until now. Warren Christie, Ryan Robbins, Ali Liebert star.
Effective transposition of the Graham Green novel to Mods-era Britain stars Sam Riley as the young thug whose engineered vengeance slaying of a rival is witnessed by a young waitress (Andrea Riseborough), and who now determines to court her in order to buy her silence. Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Andy Serkis co-star.
In this comic crime drama, Robert Blake and Elliott Gould star as a team of L.A. vice cops whose pursuit of a mob boss has them fighting not only crooks, but corrupt members of their own force. Will disobeying direct orders get them into even more danger than they face from the bad guys? Offbeat and compelling action tale also stars Allen Garfield, Cornelia Sharpe.
Can a playboy like Charlie Barrett (Joe Silver) ever really settle down? It would seem so, as he prepares to marry a very pretty and very wealthy lady. Unfortunately, his betrothed takes a gander at his secret diary and discovers all sorts of shocking passages that don’t mark him as the marrying kind! Vintage romantic comedy co-stars Dagne Crane, Jamie Alexander, and Dom DeLuise.
The fourth sequel to the chilling franchise this time focuses on Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto), an average office employee who manages to save several co-workers after his vision of a bridge collapse becomes a reality. Of course, the group soon learns that death doesn’t like to be cheated, and they begin to die in a variety of creative ways. However, an ominous figure (Tony Todd) eventually emerges and offers a macabre suggestion for survival. Emma Bell and Miles Fisher co-star.
Happiness Is…Peanuts: Friends Forever
“Peanuts” fans will enjoy these five delightful short Charlie Brown adventures that were presented in the eighth episode of “The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show”! Along with “Kite Eating Tree,” “Sally,” “Camp,” and “Lucy Loves Schroeder,” you’ll also do the Snoopy dance for the bonus special “You’re In Love, Charlie Brown” (1967).
Elliott Gould stars in this unusual drama about a man who packs his apartment with every ultra-modern convenience in order to avoid going into the outside world. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for him, financial difficulties and other personal issues soon force him to confront his crippling condition. This fascinating study of the very real fear of agoraphobia co-stars Jennifer Tilly, Howard Hesseman.
Her study of animal behavior amongst the chimps of Gombe has fascinated for generations…and today, legendary anthropologist Jane Goodall spends her energies crisscrossing the globe on humanitarian efforts. Her rise to scientific renown and her travels of recent years make for a most intriguing documentary chronicle.
All 12 episodes from the fourth season–including “Going to Italia,” “Twinning,” “Meatball Mashup,” “Three Men and a Snooki,” and “Ciao, Italia”–plus the reunion special are featured in a four-disc set.
Looney Tunes Super Stars: Pepe Le Pew
Vive le skunk de pew!” with this collection of 17 classic Warner Bros. cartoons starring that malodorous would-be Casanova, Pepe Le Pew. Included are “Odor-Able Kitty,” the Academy Award-winning “For Scent-imental Reasons,” “Little Beau Pepe,” “Past Perfumance,” “Really Scent,” and more.
Ex-screenwriter K.C. (Peter Dinklage), retired from showbiz and running a laundromat in New York City, gets into trouble with a bookie who kidnaps the scribe’s beloved dog when he hasn’t the money to pay his debts. K.C. returns to Hollywood hoping to raise the cash from film director friend Pete Smalls (Tim Roth), but quickly gets the dire news revealed by the title of this idiosyncratic comedy. Rosie Perez, Mark Boone Junior, and Steve Buscemi co-star.
Shameless: The Complete First Season
All 12 episodes from the debut season–including the “Pilot,” “Aunt Ginger,” “It’s Time to Kill the Turtle,” “Nana Gallagher Had an Affair,” and “Father Frank, Full of Grace”–are collected in a three-disc set.
Drowning in gambling debts, a con man (Rory Calhoun) convinces a crime boss (James Gregory) to fund a heist of a small-town California bank that handles the payroll for a nearby army base. Calhoun and the mobster’s girl (Mary Costa) pose as a married couple and insinuate themselves into the straight-laced community. But mistrust amongst the major players and a crew that may not be up to snuff threaten to ruin a seemingly easily job. Robert H. Harris, Roxanne Arlen, Corey Allen also star.
After a rich businessman (Monte Blue) is betrayed by his wife and left penniless, he accepts a job aboard a passenger steamship traveling to South America. The newly humble worker is soon injured after coming into contact with a beguiling young foreign woman, who soon arouses both his interest and suspicions. Exciting drama set in and around a Nicaraguan plantation co-stars Dorothy Burgess, Noah Beery.
This rip-snorting action thriller stars Michael Biehn as a mild-mannered watchmaker haunted by mysterious nightmares. With the help of a beautiful psychiatrist (Patsy Kensit), he discovers he is actually a CIA-trained killing machine who has been given a new memory. What will he do now that he has total recall? With Richard Jordan, Robert Culp.
Edward G. Robinson works on the right side of the law–at least for a while–in this exciting crime thriller, playing a police captain out to avenge the shooting of a colleague. Using every resource at this disposal, Robinson soon decides that the law won’t be an obstacle to cracking the case and preventing an ambitious bank robbery in the process. With Paulette Goddard, K.T. Stevens, and Lee Van Cleef.
For details and availability of more of this week’s new releases, click here.
Here’s a look at last week’s DVD and Blu-ray releases.