Home Entertainment Guide: April 2022

10 NEW TO HBO MAX

"The Batman"
"Beetlejuice"
"Boogie Nights"
"Dances with Wolves"
"Hugo"
"Insidious"
"Moon"
"The Night House"
"Poltergeist"
"Seven"

10 NEW TO NETFLIX

"Argo"
"Blade II"
"Full Metal Jacket"
"Her"
"Inception"
"Nightcrawler"
"Ouija: The Origin of Evil"
"The Rental"
"The Ring"
"Saving Private Ryan"

13 NEW TO BLU-RAY

"The Apartment"

Movies just don't get better than Billy Wilder's 1960 masterpiece, one of my favorite flicks of all time. On the surface, it's just another romantic comedy, but it's a foundational one in how much it allowed for darker, richer themes to seep into a genre that was traditionally dominated by slapstick and whimsy. Jack Lemmon, perhaps the most underrated actor of all time, plays an insurance clerk who agrees to let his senior colleagues use his apartment to conduct their extramarital affairs. Dark already. And then he falls for a woman (a wonderful Shirley MacLaine), who is sleeping with his boss (Fred MacMurray). "The Apartment" was a hit, winning the Oscar for Best Picture and really inspiring the generation that would explode films about the complex sex lives of adults in the years to come. It's finally available in 4K from Kino Lorber, and every film fan should own it.

Buy it here 

Special Features
PREVIOUSLY RESTORED IN 4K
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride, author of Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge
Audio Commentary by critic Bruce Block
Inside The Apartment: Documentary (29:36)
Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon - Featurette (12:47)

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"Cyrano"

Man, did MGM screw up the release of this one. If I was Joe Wright and Peter Dinklage, I'd be furious at the constant delays that pushed this film out of the conversation when it should have been building award buzz. After its Telluride premiere, many people predicted that Dinklage would land a nomination for his vulnerable yet powerful turn in this adaptation of the 2018 musical version of the classic 1987 play Cyrano de Bergerac. He's so good in the title role, delivering excellent music from Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner of The National. It's a moving, lavish piece that was almost pushed under the radar, but I hope it finds an audience at home. Cyrano deserves one.

Buy it here 

Special Features
An Epic Adventure: The Making of Cyrano

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"Death on the Nile"

A victim of pandemic delays and Armie Hammer revelations, Kenneth Branagh's follow-up to his hit "Murder on the Orient Express" finally landed in theaters in February 2022, quickly dropping on Blu-ray and streaming services a few weeks later. Once again, Branagh found a way to get an audience to see a classic mystery, as the movie grossed over $130 million worldwide, with another Poirot film in development. I thought "Murder" was playful fun, but found this one deadly dull. Branagh treats it all like it's Shakespeare, too often forgetting Christie's playfulness and sense of humor. And he wastes talented stars against bland CGI backdrops. Let's hope the mystery sparks to life more next time.

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Special Features
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Death on the Nile: Novel to Film 
Agatha Christie: Travel Can Be Murder
Design on the Nile 
Branagh/Poirot 
Deleted Scenes

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"Eastern Promises"

One of the most exciting movie happenings of 2022 is the return of David Cronenberg with "Crimes of the Future," premiering next month at Cannes. One of the master's best films was recently given the 4K treatment by Kino Lorber, and it's a must-own. This is one of those "even better than you remember" flicks, a 2007 gangster flick about a woman (Naomi Watts) who gets involved with the Russian mob in London, including a tough guy played perfectly by Viggo Mortensen. I hate to beat this drum, but this is the kind of adult drama that seems to be disappearing from theaters. One could see it premiering on Netflix now instead. It's rich, complicated, and never holds your hand. 

Buy it here 

Special Features
NEW 4K SDR MASTER APPROVED AND COLOR GRADED BY CINEMATOGRAPHER PETER SUSCHITZKY
NEW Interview with Screenwriter Steven Knight
Secrets and Stories: Featurette with Director David Cronenberg (10:32)
Marked for Life: Featurette with David Cronenberg (6:42)
Two Guys Walk into a Bath House: Featurette with David Cronenberg (1:55)
Watts on Wheels: Featurette with Naomi Watts (0:55)

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"For All Mankind" (Criterion)

Criterion has been alternating new released with upgrades as they fill out their 4K collection. This is the latter as Al Reinert's 1989 documentary has been a part of the collection for years, but is now available in 4K for the first time anywhere. It's a perfect choice for the upgrade treatment given the technical achievement that this film represents. It includes original footage from NASA's Apollo program from 1968 to 1972, showing film goers parts of our universe that they would never otherwise be able to see. "For All Mankind" is assembled so it feels like we're actually taking a trip to the Moon. It's the closest most of us will ever get to space and a great 4K edition.

Buy it here 

Special Features
In the 4K UHD edition: New 4K digital restorations of the original 1.33:1 framing and the alternate 1.85:1 theatrical presentation, with 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
In the Blu-ray and DVD editions: High-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by producer-director Al Reinert, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring director Al Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last person to set foot on the moon
An Accidental Gift: The Making of “For All Mankind,” a documentary featuring interviews with Reinert, Apollo 12 and Skylab astronaut Alan Bean, and NASA archive specialists
Selection of excerpted interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts
Program about Bean’s artwork, accompanied by a gallery of his paintings
NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage
Optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission-control specialists
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: Essays by film critic Terrence Rafferty and Reinert

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"The Girl Can't Help It" (Criterion)

What a silly little movie. It's certainly not much of a romantic comedy to remember, featuring a surprisingly flat performance from Jayne Mansfield and an arguably dull turn from Tom Ewell. But you're not here for the plot. You're here for the tunes, the rock music reportedly so earth-shaking that it inspired John Lennon to become a musician. The music in "The Girl Can't Help It" rules, including performances from Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Platters, Abbey Lincoln, Julie London, and many more. It's just a fun movie to LISTEN to, and a turning point in how rock and roll was used in film. 

Buy it here 

Special Features
New high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring film scholar Toby Miller
New video essay by film critic David Cairns
Interview with filmmaker John Waters
New conversation between WFMU DJs Dave “the Spazz” Abramson and Gaylord Fields about the music in the film
New interview with Eve Golden, author of Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn’t Help It
On-set footage
Interviews with actor Jayne Mansfield (1957) and musician Little Richard (1984)
Episode of Karina Longworth’s podcast You Must Remember This about Mansfield
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Rachel Syme and, for the Blu-ray, excerpts from director Frank Tashlin’s 1952 book How to Create Cartoons, with a new introduction by Ethan de Seife, author of Tashlinesque: The Hollywood Comedies of Frank Tashlin

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"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"

Sure, titles like "The Apartment" and "For All Mankind" are obviously going to get the 4K treatment eventually, but I love that Arrow digs a little deeper, finding a film that may have been discarded by history and treating it like a modern classic. The transfer of Kenneth Branagh's much-maligned 1994 telling of the Mary Shelley classic is a beauty, bringing out the rich shadows and color palette of the film without making it look overly polished or plastic. It's still gritty and so wonderfully strange. Getting mixed to bad reviews at the time, I'm not sure one could say that the consensus has changed much on this film, but I've always been a fan of its wacky ambition, and this feels like the kind of release that could bring some around to that camp. It's not just the 4K restoration, but the gorgeous packaging (look at that cover!) and the excellent new special features, including interviews and a brand new documentary. Maybe it's finally time for this film to live.

Buy it here 

Special Features
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE by Sony Pictures Entertainment
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary by film historians Michael Brooke and Johnny Mains
Brand new interview with composer Patrick Doyle
Brand new interview with costumer designer James Acheson
Brand new interview with make-up designer Daniel Parker
Mary Shelley and The Creation of a Monster, a brand new documentary featurette on the origins and evolution of the Frankenstein story, featuring Gothic specialists David Pirie, Jonathan Rigby and Stephen Volk
Dissecting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a brand new featurette with David Pirie, Jonathan Rigby and Stephen Volk on the differences between the novel and Kenneth Branagh's screen adaptation
Frankenstein: A Liberal Adaptation from Mrs. Shelley's Famous Story for Edison Production (1910): The first screen adaptation of Shelley's story in a 2K restoration by the Library of Congress, with music by Donald Sosin
Original trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Laz Marquez
First pressing only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Jon Towlson and Amy C. Chambers

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"Ordinary People"

Arrow and Criterion get a lot of love in this monthly consumer guide, but I also have a spot in my heart for Paramount Presents, an increasingly impressive collection of remastered catalog titles that has recently included "Nashville" and "Vanilla Sky," for example. This month, they remastered one of the most controversial Best Picture winners of all time, Robert Redford's 1980 drama about a family torn apart by tragedy that is almost better known for beating "Raging Bull" than anything else. This reputation has started to shift as people have come to the defense of what is a very good drama, especially when it comes to performances, which was always Redford's greatest asset as a director. He drew something particularly amazing and heartbreaking out of Timothy Hutton, who won an Oscar, and reflects here in a new featurette about his process with Redford on set.

Buy it here 

Special Features
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM OVERSEEN BY ROBERT REDFORD
NEW Swimming in the Rose Garden — In this new featurette, Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Timothy Hutton reflects on filming ORDINARY PEOPLE and the intriguing approach director Robert Redford took to create a feeling of isolation on set.
Feeling is Not Selective— Acclaimed American novelist Judith Guest discusses her novel and the process involved in adapting it for film.
Theatrical Trailer
Collectible packaging featuring a foldout image of the film's theatrical poster and an interior spread with key movie moments

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"Parallel Mothers"

There was a bit of a buzz around Oscar time that the wonderful Penelope Cruz might win her second Academy Award for her phenomenal work in Pedro Almodóvar's latest film. That didn't happen but hopefully it will bring more attention to the movie itself, another gem from one of the best directors alive, and a film that made this site's composite top ten of 2021. Cruz plays a photographer who gives birth at a hospital at the same time as a teen single mother. The two become friends and, well, it would be a spoiler to go into much more about they will be tied for the rest of their lives. Suffice to say, Almodovar again mixes melodrama with character-driven truth, finding a way to make the most extremely soapy plotlines resonate with human emotion. He's just a gem and one only wishes he worked more often. Like every year. Yes, I'm greedy.

Buy it here 

Special Features
None

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"'Round Midnight" (Criterion)

Bertrand Tavernier's 1986 drama is a unique little film in that it's a study of jazz culture and a jazz musician but through a French lens. Based on real-life legends Lester Young and Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon plays Dale Turner, a jazz artist who leaves New York to play in Paris, but he brings his addictions with him. He befriends a single father, who helps him turn his life around. As loosely structured as a jazz performance, "'Round Midnight" casts a melancholy spell that's enhanced by an excellent mix on this Criterion release. The 4K digital restoration is rich too, it's well-balanced without looking too modern. It's a film that needs a bit of grain and smoke in the air. The Criterion release is also rich with special features, including a rare Gordon performance and new interviews. 

Buy it here 

Special Features
New 4K digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
New interview with jazz and cultural critic Gary Giddins
New conversation with music producer Michael Cuscuna and author Maxine Gordon, widow of musician Dexter Gordon
Before Midnight, a 1986 behind-the-scenes documentary by Jean Achache
Panel discussion from 2014 featuring Cuscuna, Maxine Gordon, director Bertrand Tavernier, and jazz scholar John Szwed, moderated by jazz critic and broadcaster Mark Ruffin
Performance from 1969 of “Fried Bananas” by Dexter Gordon, directed by Teit Jørgensen
New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by scholar Mark Anthony Neal

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"Scream"

Has a film ever dropped in and out of the public conversation as quickly as the new "Scream"? And that's coming from someone who liked it more than most people. It's just hard to remember that it's even a 2022 movie for some reason. Maybe that's just the way things are now with this incredibly quick turnaround from theatrical to streaming to maybe a Blu-ray. Regardless, the film did very well, likely launching a new franchise of sequels. And Paramount has done well with the physical release (especially given it's on Paramount+, which likely limits their sales in the Blu-ray department). There's a commentary and even some deleted scenes. 

Buy it here 

Special Features
Filmmaker Commentary—The directors, writers and filmmakers reveal the unwritten rules for surviving this genre-busting horror movie.
Bloodlines—Catch up with Scream stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette for a deep dive into their characters and why they came back for a fresh stab at their favorite horror franchise.
New Blood—Meet the new generation of Woodsboro victims and potential killers!
In the Shadow of the Master—The cast honor movie maestro Wes Craven and look back on his incredible legacy as the director who redefined horror.
Deleted Scenes—Look out! They're back from the dead: see the scenes slashed from the movie.

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"Singin' in the Rain"

When people ask me my favorite movie of all time, it's usually "Jaws," "Vertigo," or this one. Sorry. A little basic, I know. But these are the movies I was raised on. And I've never found a movie that produces as much unbridled joy as "Singin' in the Rain." It's a smile generator, a movie that can break any bad mood. And it's been re-released in 4K by Warner Bros., perhaps timed to the upcoming Mother's Day and Father's Day buying windows. Get it for your mom or pop this year. Or whoever could use a smile.

Buy it here 

Special Features
PREVIOUSLY RESTORED IN 4K BY WARNER BROS.
HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
RESTORED ORIGINAL MONO TRACK
Commentary by Debbie Reynold, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse, Kathleen Freeman, Stanley Donen, Betty Camden, Adolph Green, Baz Luhrmann and Rudy Behlmer.
Singin' in the Rain: Raining on a New Generation Documentary

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"Walker (Criterion)

Enfant terrible Alex Cox's best movie, in my opinion, is this 1987 Western starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur, Peter Boyle, and Marlee Matlin. Based on the true story of William Walker, who basically invaded Nicaragua and put himself in charge, it's a trippy experience, a movie filled with intentional anachronisms that's supposed to play out more like a fever dream than a historical document. One thing that's fascinating about how much history has reclaimed this film is to consider how much it was HATED when it was released. Roger himself gave it zero stars, opening his pan with "Some bad movies are in no hurry to announce themselves, but 'Walker' declares its badness right from the opening titles..." I get why "Walker" didn't work for him, but I find it fascinatingly strange and ambitious, and I'm happy it's part of the Criterion Collection.