New to View: April 8
A romantic drama centering on a young man with disabilities headlines the new titles in this week's New to View at ReelBob.
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, April 8, unless otherwise noted:
Good Bad Things (Blu-ray)
Details: 2024, Music Box Films
Rated: Unrated
The lowdown: A romantic drama centering on Danny (Danny Kurtzman), an entrepreneur with muscular dystrophy, who is disenchanted with by past relationships and is still smarting from a recent breakup.
Danny, despite have supportive friends and family, realizes something is missing from his life. Hoping to open himself up to love again, he uses a new dating up called Rubi, which matches him with Madi (Jessica Parker Kennedy), an inscrutable photographer.
Meeting Madi begins a reflective journey of vulnerability and self-acceptance for Danny as he begins to discover and share the beauty of his own unique body.
The emotionally-filled and touching love story, an award-winner at Slamdance, will make you laugh, cry and believe that true love exists.
Kurtzman co-wrote the move with director Shane D. Stanger.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include a filmmakers’ panel, a conversation with Kurtzman and producer Steven Way and an interview with Stanger and director of photography Nathan Haugaard.
The Long Kiss Goodnight: Limited Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1996, Arrow Video
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson star in this action-thriller about Samantha Caine who, eight years earlier, washed up on a beach, pregnant and with no memory.
Now, she is a schoolteacher living in a small town with a daughter and boyfriend who love her.
She nearly has given up on ever finding out about her past, until an accident revives hidden memories and her past comes flooding back.
With the help of low-rent private investigator Mitch Hennessey (Jackson), Samantha must discover who she was and why so many people want to kill her.
When she finally finds answers, Samantha — whose real name is Charlene Elizabeth “Charly” Baltimore, an expert CIA assassin — must rescue her daughter, Caitlin, from the rogue agent — who also happens to be Caitlin’s father — who kidnapped her and has relaunched the CIA operation that would blame a terrorist act on Islamic extremists.
The movie, written by Shane Black and directed by Renny Harlin, costars Patrick Malahide, Craig Bierko, Brain Cox, David Morse, G.D. Spradlin, Tom Amandes and Yvonna Zima. The film garnered a 68 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra-high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials on the 4K UHD disc include two commentary tracks, one with film critic Walter Chaw and the second with film critics Drusilla Adeline and Joshua Conkel, co-hosts of the “Bloodhaus” podcast. Extras on the Blu-ray disc include interviews with stunt coordinator Steve Davidson, makeup artist Gordon J. Smith and Zima; visual essays by film scholar Josh Nelson, critic-filmmaker Howard S. Berger and film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; deleted scenes; an archival making of promotional featurette; behind-the-scenes EPK footage; and archival promotional interviews with Harlin, Davis, Jackson and Bierko.
I’m All Right, Jack (Blu-ray & VOD)
Details: 1959, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: An all-star cast including Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Dennis Price, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Rutherford, Liz Fraser and Miles Malleson are featured in this British satire that about labor relations in post-war Britain.
Carmichael is the nominal star portraying Stanley Windrush who, failing to get a job as a business executive, begins work as a blue-collar, unskilled employee at the missile factory of his uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel (Price), who, along with his old army comrade Sidney DeVere Cox (Attenborough), persuade Windrush to take the job.
The over-eager newcomer draws the ire of communist shop steward Fred Kite (Sellers), who wants him fired for not having a union card. However, the two patch up their differences and Windrush keeps his job.
A work-and-study report on the efficiency of employees eventually leads to a strike, which is part of Tracepurcel and Cox’s far-reaching plan to take over a large contract with a Middle Eastern country.
Everything works out in the end, of course, with Windrush becoming a hero of sorts.
Sellers played a second role early in the movie as a stuffy upperclassman, Sir John Kennawey, bemoaning the breakdown of the country’s class system.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an interview with Fraser and a commentary track with authors-comedy historians Gemma and Robert Ross.
UnBroken (DVD)
Release date: April 1
Details: 2023, Kino Lorber-Greenwich Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This documentary chronicles the seven Weber children who evaded capture and death in Nazi Germany for more than two years.
Their mother had been arrested and later sent to Auschwitz where she was killed. The children were inspired by their father’s mandate to “always stay together.” And they did, despite deprivations such as hunger and loneliness and violence such as rape and surviving bombings.
Hanging over them all the time was fear, but still, they persevered.
Finally, they are separated from their father and are told they must declare themselves as orphans so they can escape to a new life in the United States. However, the cost of that freedom was very high — the siblings were separated and were not to be reunited for 40 years.
Filmmaker Beth Lane, the daughter of one of the Weber children, retraces the steps of her to learn more and get answers about her family’s survival, and talks with the living siblings to learn about experiences.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English and German 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 1
Details: 2024, Kino Lorber-Zeitgeist Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Bruce David Klein’s documentary is not an all-encompassing look at the life and career of Liza Minnelli.
Rather its emphasis is on Minnelli’s life and career from the death of her mother, Judy Garland, to about 1980.
The movie is not so much a biographical chronicling of Minnelli as it is about the people who influenced and mentored her, such as Kay Thompson, Charles Aznavour, Bob Fosse and Michael Feinstein.
Though somewhat superficial, the movie does touch on Minnelli’s four marriages, but not much personal insight is developed.
Klein’s movie is more of a tribute and fan devotional piece to Minnelli rather than an in-depth study of a talented artist.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary with Klein, producer-co-editor Alexander J. Goldstein and co-producer Dana Craig; outtakes from interviews with Feinstein, Ben Vereen and Minnelli’s sister, Lorna Luft; and a question-and-answer session with Klein.
“Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers By Alain Corneau” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1976-81, Radiance Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The film noir tradition continued in France long after it waned in the United States.
One of its proponents was director Alain Corneau, whose movies were inspired by authors of the genre.
This set contains a trio of those movies: “Police Python 357” (1976), “Serie Noire” (1979) and “Choice of Arms” (1981).
Yves Montand stars in “Police Python 357” as a tough cop who, when his lover is found murdered, is implicated in her death as well as in a battle of wits with a powerful rival.
Jim Thompson’s “A Hell of a Woman” serves as the source for “Serie Noire,” in which Patrick Dewaere tries to save a young woman from prostitution, with murder seemingly the only solution.
“Choice of Arms” features Montand as well as Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu. Montand is a one-time crook who is forced out of retirement when a gang on the run turns to him for shelter after a prison break.
These dark thrillers will captivate fans of the crime and noir genres.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture (“Police Python 357” and “Serie Noire”) and 2.39:1 widescreen picture (“Choice of Arms”); French LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary by Mike White on “Police Python 357”; a featurette on “Police Python 357’s” source novel and adaptation; an archival interview with Corneau and François Périer about “Police Python 357”; on-the-set interviews with Corneau, Dewaere and Miriam Boyer on “Serie Noire”; a 2013 documentary on the making of “Serie Noire”; a 2002 interview with Corneau and Marie Trintignant about “Serie Noire”; a visual essay about Thompson’s adaptation of “Serie Noire” to the screen; an introduction documentary by filmmaker Jérôme Wybon; a 1981 behind-the-scenes look at the shooting of “Choice of Arms”; interviews from the “Choice of Arms” set with Montand, Deneuve and Depardieu; an interview with Maneula Lazic on Montand in the 1970s; and an 80-page booklet featuring interviews with Corneau.
Revolver (Blu-ray)
Details: 2024, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: In this Korean thriller, a police officer, Su-young (Jeon Do-Yeon) is released from prison after serving two years to protect her corrupt fellow officers.
She is expecting to receive the reward she was promised — a new life, money and loyalty in return for her silence.
But upon her release, she realizes that she has been abandoned and betrayed.
The angry former officer now sets out on a path to uncover the truth, confronting former friends and exposing the network of corruption that led to her incarceration.
Despite Do-Yeon’s committed performance, the movie, overall, simply lumbers along.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Korean DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a making of featurette.
Bobbie Joe and the Outlaw (Blu-ray)
Release date: March 25
Details: 1976, Kino Lorber
Rated: R, sexual content, nudity, violence, language
The lowdown: This exploitation movie — number 28 in the Kino Cult series — features Lynda Carter and former evangelist-turned-actor Marjoe Gortner as a latter-day Bonnie and Clyde.
Carter, in her feature film debut, plays Bobbie Jo, a waitress at a carhop, who has aspirations of a singing career while Gortner’s Lyle sees himself as a modern-day Billy the Kid.
Eventually, the pair are joined by Bobbie Jo’s sister, Pearl (Merrie Lynn Ross), and her unpredictable boyfriend, Slick (Jesse Vint).
As their crime spree increases and becomes more violent, the law begins to go after them. In various shootouts with police, their ranks are thinned until only Bobbie Jo remains — her dreams shattered.
The cast also includes Gerrit Graham, Belinda Balaski, Gene Drew and Peggy Stewart, all under the direction of Mark L. Lester.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a commentary track with Lester, a second with John Harrison, author of “Wildcat: The Films of Marjoe Gortner” and interviews with Balaski, Ross and Lester.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Accidental Getaway Driver (Utopia-Amazon-Apple TV+)
The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 6, Episodes 1-3 (Hulu)
The Interrogation of Anna Goode (One Tree Entertainment)
There’s Still Tomorrow (Greenwich Entertainment)
The World Will Tremble (Vertical Entertainment)
APRIL 9
Good American Family: Episode 5 (Hulu)
Hyper Knife (Hulu)
The Studio: Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
APRIL 10
Abortion Dream Team (Viaplay)
The Aviator’s Wife (Kino Film Collection)
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (Kino Film Collection)
G20 (Amazon Prime)
The Kardashians: Season 6 (Hulu)
APRIL 11
Asog (Film Movement)
Autobiography (Film Movement Plus)
Dope Thief: Episode 6 (Apple TV+)
Got to Get Out (Hulu)
Gunslingers (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Juan of the Dead (Film Movement Plus)
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer (Brainstorm Media)
Shadow of God (Shudder)
Surface: Season 2, Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
This Vicious Breed (Film Movement Plus)
Your Friends and Neighbors: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
Zero (Well Go USA Entertainment)
APRIL 14
Count Me In (Level 33 Entertainment)
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 X @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.