New to Theaters:
X (2022) Filmmaker Ti West attempts to recreate the gritty micro budget horror films of the 1970s/80s but comes up way short in what turns out to be a terrible meshing of the mumblecore trend of filmmaking and the films to which he purports to pay tribute. A group of idiotic and colorless characters head out to the boonies to make a movie but are besieged by an elderly couple. Though most of the characters are in their twenties, they are somehow no match for the octogenarian twosome. Literally nothing happens for the first hour of the film and when it does it’s a relentless attempt to bludgeon the audience with uninspired gory murders without the benefit of characters the audience invests emotionally in or situations they haven’t seen a hundred times before. Die-hard horror fans only need apply. A colossal waste of time for anyone else.
Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People
New to Disc:
Paramount:
Ordinary People (1980) The 1980 Best Picture Oscar winner makes its Blu Ray debut in a new edition as part of the Paramount Presents line of titles. Extras include two new featurettes and the film’s trailer.
MPI Home Video:
The Honeymooners Specials (1976-78) is a collection featuring all of the later one-hour TV specials from Jackie Gleason and the cast from the classic fifties’ sitcom. There are four in the set which also includes rare parody skits of the show. (DVD only)
Corinth Films:
Drive In Retro Classics is the first in a new line of remastered genre titles from the company. The first edition includes the sci-fi films, Rocketship X-M, The Hideous Sun Demon and The Brain From Planet Arous. (DVD only)
Film Movement:
The Whaler Boy (2022) A 15-year-old boy from the Bering Strait falls hard for a webcam model he chances to see in this Russian import. Extras include a bonus film. (DVD only)
Kino:
The Apartment (1960) The 1960 Oscar winner for Best Picture gets the 4K treatment in a new edition that retains previous extras and adds a few new ones as well.
Criterion:
The Last Waltz (1978) Martin Scorsese’s extraordinary documentary covering the final performance of The Band at the Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976 has been given the deluxe treatment in a new set that includes two commentaries, a making of documentary, outtakes and the film’s trailer.
Also available this week from Criterion is the romance film Love Jones (1997) which stars Larenz Tate and Nia Long. Extras include new interviews.
Warner Archive:
A Star is Born (1937) The original version of the oft remade tale of a showbiz couple on opposite sides of the career spectrum has been given a handsome restoration in this new edition which also includes radio broadcasts, cartoons, shorts and the film’s trailer.
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) The cinematic retelling of three of the Brother’s classic tales, gorgeously filmed in Cinerama, has been meticulously restored in this new two disc set which includes radio interviews, documentary and a slideshow.
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