New to View: April 27

The Academy Award-nominated "Nomadland" headlines the latest titles for home consumption.

The following titles are being released on Tuesday, April 27, unless otherwise noted:
Nomadland (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2020, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution
Rated: R, nudity
The lowdown: Writer-director Chloe Zhao is drawn to people who are not so much loners as self-sustainers. They exist on the fringes of society, going through life on their own terms.
In “Nomadland,” Zhao casts Frances McDormand as Fern who, after losing her job and home during the recession, embarks on an odyssey through the West, living out of her van.
“Nomadland” is a physical and emotional journey as Fern ponders her choices. Though always moving forward, she also seems to be looking back at her old home and life.
“Nomadland” is a sparse film. But Zhao, adapting a book by Jessica Bruder, relies on expressions, glimpses and physical movement rather than dialogue to advance the story.
At the end, you do not fret for Fern. You realize she has the confidence and wherewithal to live the life she wants without compromise or regret.
“Nomadland” is a paean to the independence of modern pioneers. It’s a memorable feature, one of the best of the year, worthy of its six Academy Award nominations, including best picture, Zhao for best director, adapted screenplay, film editing, McDormand for best actress and cinematography.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include deleted scenes, a “The Forgotten America” featurette and a question-and-answer session with Zhao and McDormand at the film’s Telluride premiere.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1967, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: The finale of Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy finds Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach ignoring the Civil War going on around them as they search for a $200,000 cache.
This epic 162-minute spaghetti Westerns features double-crosses, shoot-outs and bodies falling like bowling pins.
Leone’s masterpiece is more about characterization than the plot. It features his usual mixture of spectacle and intimate close-ups.
Helping the movie along is the unforgettable score by the great Ennio Morricone.
This two-disc set offers a mythical Western on a grand scale that every fan of the genre should experience.
Technical aspects: 2160 4K UHD, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a commentary track, a making of featurette, a featurette on Morricone and his music, a profile of Leone and his cinematic style, a “The Man Who Lost the Civil War: Civil War” documentary; a reconstruction of the movie, including deleted scenes and a “Trailer From Hell” episode about the movie.

Each Dawn I Die (Blu-ray)
Details: 1939, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: James Cagney stars as reporter Frank Ross, who is framed for manslaughter after he breaks a story about city corruption.
Convicted and sent to prison, Ross discovers that the powers he fought on the outside are conspiring to keep him in the penitentiary forever.
His only ally turns out to be racketeer Hood Stacey, played by George Raft.
In the end, justice prevails.
The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection. It can be found at www.warnerarchive.com or other Internet sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (16:9 enhanced) full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a vintage newsreel; a “Day at Santa Anita” short; two cartoon; a featurette, “Stool Pigeons and Pine Overcoats: The Language of Gangster Films”; a studio blooper reel, “Breakdowns of 1939”; and a radio adaptation of the movie.

Donnie Darko (4K UHD)
Details: 2001, Arrow Video
Rated: R, violence, drug use, language
The lowdown: Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Donnie, a troubled teenager who survives a freak accident — a falling jet engine.
The incident only raises Donnie’s anxiety. He already is in therapy, is prone to sleepwalking and has an imaginary friend — a six-foot rabbit named Frank.
Franks has told Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. In that time, Donnie will navigate the complex emotional life of a teenager and follow Frank’s very odd instructions as he fights to maintain the space-time continuum.
The movie, which originally faced several distribution problems, has gathered a cult following as well as earning an 86 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The strong supporting cast includes Gyllenhaal’s sister, Maggie, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Noah Wylie and Jena Malone.
The release features the theatrical and director’s cuts of the movie.
Technical aspects: 2160p 4K Ultra HD, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include two commentary tracks, a making of featurette, deleted and alternate scenes, a short film by “Donnie Darko” director Richard Kelly, a production diary documentary, three archival featurettes, B-roll footage, Cunning Vision infomercials and a music video.
The limited edition release features a 100-page hardcover book.

The Time Travelers (Blu-ray)
Details: 1964, Kino Lorber-Scorpion Releasing
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This low-budget science-fiction movie was cowritten and directed by Ib Melchior, who also wrote and directed “The Angry Red Planet,” as well as the screenplays for “Reptilicus,” “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” and “Journey to the Seventh Planet.”
“The Time Travelers” stars veteran actor Preston Foster as Dr. von Steiner, who with a group of fellow scientists, create a time-viewing device that later turns out to be a portal.
The scientists go through and find themselves 107 years in the future — 2071, just around the corner for us.
Since the movie was made in the early 1960s, the Earth, of course, has been devastated by a nuclear war. The scientists, chased by mutants, find refuge in a cave that leads to an underground city where the remnants of mankind live.
The scientists must recreate their time portal so they can return home. But when the mutants invade the city and destroy a rock that the inhabitants were going to use to travel to a new home, they all must use the rebuilt portal to escape.
Despite the low budget, the movie has a quaint charm and an optimistic finale.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.

Switchblade Sisters (Blu-ray)
Details: 1975, Arrow Films
Rated: R, violence, nudity, sexual situations
The lowdown: This exploitation action-thriller features an all-girls gang, the “Dagger Debs,” led by Lace.
Tension arises between Lace and a new member, Maggie, because Lace believes her boyfriend, Dominic, the leader of the “Silver Daggers,” has the hots for the new recruit.
The movie, directed by Jack Hill, features drugs, battles between rival gangs, jailhouse cliches — as the Debs are placed in juvenile detention and must deal with abusive guards — betrayals and, of course, sex.
Fans of these kind of movies will find this feature an interesting concoction.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an archival documentary; a commentary track; a look at the filming locations; an archival featurette with Hill and Joanne Nail, who played Maggie, at the 2007 Grindhouse Film Festival; archival 1990’s interviews with Hill, Nail and Robbie Lee, who portrayed Lace; and an illustrated collector’s booklet.

Cast a Dark Shadow / Wanted for Murder (Blu-ray)
Details: 1946, 1955 Cohen Film Collection-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A double feature of two British film noirs is the focus of this Blu-ray.
“Wanted for Murder” (1946) is a Victorian-era feature starring Eric Portman as the son of a hangman who gradually goes mad because of his father’s profession and begins strangling women.
When he meets and falls in love with a young woman he begins fighting his urges to kill. You will have to see the movie to discover if he succeeds or not.
The cast includes Stanley Holloway and Ronald Culver as police detectives on the hunt for the killer.
“Cast a Dark Shadow” (1955) stars Dirk Bogarde as a fortune-hunter who marries rich women who he then kills to inherit their fortunes.
The movie was directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later went on to direct three James Bond films,  “You Only Live Twice,” “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker,” as well as “Damn the Defiant!,” “Sink the Bismarck” and “Alfie.” The cast also features Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh and Kathleen Harrison.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture (“Wanted for Murder”) and 1.66:1 picture (“Cast a Dark Shadow”); English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.

“Retro Afrika Collection”: Ambushed, The Faceless Man, Run for Your Life (DVD)
Details: 1985, 1988, IndiePix Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: These titles spotlight a trio of crime-caper thrillers made in South Africa during the era of apartheid.
“Faceless Man” (1985) centers on an innocent man who gets himself involved in an assassination plot. He ends up working with authorities to capture the lead conspirator, an infamous criminal known as the “Faceless Man,” who turns out to be one of the police officers working on the case.
“Run for Your Life” (1985) follows two friends out for run who stumble upon an illegal drug ring in the woods. They are taken hostage and forced to work the drug plantation for “Cobra.”
To survive and escape, the friends must rely on their wits.
“Ambushed” (1988) deals with a game ranger and his assistant who take on a gang of army deserters who have kidnapped the ranger’s wife and son.
These movies are long-forgotten and little-scene features that highlight Africa’s film industry.
Technical aspects: 3:2 picture; Zulu stereo; English subtitles.

Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Best Summer Ever (DVD & VOD) (Freestyle Digital Media)
Heavy Trip: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray) (Doppelganger Releasing)
Pipeline (DVD & VOD) (Wild Eye Releasing)
Vanquish (Blu-ray & DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Another Gay Movie: Director’s Cut (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Bad Witch (Gravitas Ventures)
Bagdad Café (Shout! Factory)
Here Are the Young Men (Well Go USA Entertainment)
Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Home Entertainment)
Justice League: World War II (Warner Home Entertainment)
Land (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
The Marksman (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
The Sleepless (TSF Productions)
The Bad Seed (Sundance Now, April 29)
Things Heard & Seen (www.netflix.com/ThingsHeardandSeen) (Netflix, April 29)
Golden Arm (Utopia Distribution, April 30)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Netflix, April 30)
The Outside Story (Samuel Goldwyn Films, April 30)
Percy vs. Goliath (Saban Films-Paramount Home Entertainment, April 30)
The Virtuoso (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, April 30)
Without Remorse (Amazon Prime, April 30)
A Touch of Sin (Sundance Now, May 3)
Alone Across the Arctic (Sundance Now, May 3)
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 7, season finale (Acorn TV, May 3)
Glassland (Sundance Now, May 3)

Keeping Faith: Series 3, Episode 5 (Acorn TV, May 3)
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 14, season finale (Acorn TV, May 3)
Threshold (Arrow Video, May 3)
VE Day: Minute to Minute (Acorn TV, May 3)

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.