In terms of new releases, the clear highlight of this week’s offerings has to be Slow West, a darkly comic ramble through the prairie with Michael Fassbender, who proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that no genre is beyond his mastery. His stoicism and quiet strength feel perfectly at home in the Western milieu, and Kodi Smit-McPhee delivers a capable performance as the audience’s surrogate, learning the ropes of this dangerous terrain. The compelling war drama ’71 and the divisive Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Maggie also hit shelves this week.
Criterion’s double whammy of The Killers adaptations dwarfs the other vintage rereleases for the week. Hemingway’s short story inspired Robert Siodmak in 1946, and then Don Siegel drew upon the same material for his adaptation in 1964. Though they begin with a similar starting point, the films could not be more different. Siodmak went for the classic slow-burning noir feel, while Siegel doubled down on the violence, creating a hectic picture for a hectic time. Arrow’s new print of Contamination on Blu-ray is also sure to please, if for no other reason than the fact that it contains more classic soundtrack work from Italian prog-rockers Goblin. Goblin rules.
DVD and Blu-ray (* = combo pack)
5 Flights Up (Universal Studios)
’71 (Lionsgate)
Absolution (Lionsgate)
Alien Outpost (Shout Factory)
Belle and Sebastian (Omnibus)
Contamination (Arrow)*
Criminal Law (Olive Films)
Dark Summer (Shout Factory)
Deli Man (Cohen Media Group )
Elimination Game (Entertainment One)
For the Emperor (Well Go USA)
Human Capital (Film Movement)
Kill Me Three Times (Magnolia)
The Killers (Criterion)
The Lovers (IFC Films)
Maggie (Lionsgate)
Merchants of Doubt (Sony)*
Ned Kelly (Olive Films)
The Pact II (IFC Films)
Poldark (PBS)
The Road Within (Well Go USA)
Roller Boogie (Olive Films)
Slow West (Lionsgate)
Spasmo (Scorpion Releasing)
Street Smart (Olive Films)
The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe (Film Movement)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Image)
The Treatment (Artsploitation Films)
Trophy Heads (Full Moon Features)
Truck Turner (Kino Lorber)
Walking On Sunshine (Entertainment One)
Wild Thing (Olive Films)
Woman in Gold (Starz/Anchor Bay)
DVD
The A-List (Freestyle)
Alone Yet Not Alone (Enthuse)
Awaken (Arc)
The Drop Box (Virgil Films)
Gerontophilia (Strand)
Echoes Of War (Arc)
Fight Of The Living Dead (Cinedigm)
The Last Rescue (MTI)
Laugh Killer Laugh (Anderson Digital)
Mega Shark Vs. Kolossus (Asylum)
No Way Jose (Sony)
The Redwood Massacre (NTSC)
They Got Me Covered (HBO/Warner)
Tiger Orange (Wolfe)
Tooken (Cinedigm)
Underdog Kids (Anchor Bay)
Ugly Benny (Mill Creek Entertainment)
Blu-ray
Fire Birds (Mill Creek Entertainment)
Joe Dirt (Sony)
Pit Stop (Scorpion Releasing)
Report to the Commissioner (Kino Lorber)
Robot Jox (Scream Factory)
The Cell (Warner Bros.)
The Color Out of Space (MVD/VSC)
The Crimson Cult (Kino Redemption)
Virtuosity (Warner Bros.)